Me Without You
by Qwi-Xux
Summary: I don't want to imagine me without you. Collection of 50 Vaan/Penelo one-shots. COMPLETE
1. Dream

**A/N: Well, because I am apparently completely off my rocker, I have taken on the challenge of a Vaan/Penelo prompt table for the fanfic50 LJ community. I have fifty prompts that I'm supposed to do, so I figured I'd just post them all in one story. This will be a series of unrelated one-shots. (This is the part where I wonder, again, what in the world I'm doing. Fifty one-shots? I don't think I've written fifty one-shots in my entire writing career!) Some of them will be longer, and some may be short. Very, very short. We shall see what I come up with for each prompt.**

**Disclaimer: Seriously, not mine. FFXII belongs to Square Enix.**

* * *

_**Prompt #40 - Dream**_

Dreams were funny things. They could take you to places unseen, to corners of the world only heard about in whispers, all without stepping foot outside your door. They could plant hope in souls withering of despair, breathe life into plans long left for dead by the side of the road.

Dreams could also crush you with the weight of uncertainty, shattering possibilities that had been long growing in the corners of weary minds. They could snatch away expectations and kill any desire to step foot onto the road at all, for fear that even more hopes would fall by the wayside.

Dreams were both beautiful and frightening, and Penelo had seen both sides of them. She had watched as some dreams came true, and others were stamped out with the heavy foot of oppression. She had rejoiced when the possibilities became tangible and cried when life seemed to laugh in her face. As the years wore on and death one by one stole away those she loved, her dreams began to fade.

Perhaps _fade_ wasn't quite the right word. It was more as though they were ripped from her hands, then thrown on the ground and stomped on for good measure. With each broken dream, Penelo began to grow more unwilling to allow any more hopes to take hold of her. There was a large, loud part of her that wanted nothing more than to give up on dreams entirely. What good did they do? They hadn't saved her family, or her city, or her country. They didn't put food in her stomach or give her a warm place to sleep during the cold desert nights. They weren't _practical, _and practicality was just a part of the life she now had to live. She couldn't afford to dream. Not anymore. Not only because she had to stay alive, but because her heart couldn't take scavenging any more shattered pieces. She had enough to pick up and try to put back together as it was.

Still, there was a smaller, much quieter part of her that refused to stop dreaming. She got glimpses of it, sometimes, like a pocket in her heart that held all the most sacred and special dreams that had escaped the pain and loss and disappointment. _One day, _they whispered. One day she would have a home again. One day she would have a family. One day she would have peace.

She tried not to listen to that voice, so that if those dreams burned to ash, she wouldn't have to suffer their loss. Instead, she continued to carry out her daily life, running errands for Migelo, working in his shop, watching over the younger orphans, and trying to keep Vaan out of trouble. Her Vaan, who sometimes seemed to do nothing but dream.

_"One day I'm going to be a sky pirate! Just watch, Penelo! One day I'm going to have an airship. One day…"_

Vaan was full of _one days,_ and unlike Penelo, he said them aloud. Anyone who did not know him well would say it was his endless optimism, and they would be impressed that he had such tenacity to hold onto those hopes after everything he had lost. Penelo knew that this was partly true about Vaan; he was optimistic, he was tenacious. He was also scared, and angry, and trying desperately to run away from his pain. They were really not so different. Penelo dealt with it by trying so hard not to dream, but Vaan dealt with it by endlessly dreaming. Maybe that was one of the reasons she loved him so much.

Then out of nowhere, _one day _really did happen, and suddenly she and Vaan were fighting for the hope that had once seemed as elusive as water in the desert. And oh, she fought. She fought, she bled, she laughed, she cried…and she slowly found that she could still dream. That she still wanted to dream. That maybe, just maybe, dreaming was still worth the risk of utter failure and disappointment.

"Penelo? Penelo. _Penelo_!"

Penelo blinked, finally realizing that Vaan had been trying to get her attention. "What?"

"Are you going to stand there staring at the airship or are you actually going to get in it?" Vaan waved very pointedly (and proudly) at his brand new airship. At _their _brand new airship. "We have to meet Balthier and Fran."

"I know, I know."

"Did you get the food?"

"No, Vaan, I didn't. I'm completely incompetent and can't be counted on even to remember to grab some food for the trip."

Vaan had already spotted the bag she had set down on the floor of the aerodome, and was rolling his eyes at her as he went to pick it up. She turned back to the airship, a faint smile flitting across her face.

"You're staring again," Vaan commented, the bag hefted in one arm. He looked between her and the airship, and there was a grin on his own face as he grabbed her arm and tugged her toward it. "Come on, you've got to check this out."

She allowed herself to be pulled on board. Vaan unceremoniously dumped the food next to the door and took her through the small vessel, showing her each nook and cranny, including getting her to slide under the engine so she could marvel at its "total win…just look how _big _it is!" It really just looked like a hunk of machinery to her, but she could not deny Vaan his enthusiasm.

He finally allowed her to settle in the navigator's chair while he took the pilot's seat. Penelo ran her hands over the console; it was fashioned much the same as the one on the _Strahl, _but there was something different about sitting on a borrowed airship and sitting on one that she knew was theirs. One that was proof that some dreams really were fulfilled.

The ship hummed underneath her as Vaan powered it up, his hands moving to grasp the controls. She clutched her seat reflexively as the airship lifted off the ground, fighting down the nervousness that always tried to take hold of her whenever she was flying…raising up higher and higher…the ground _so far_ below…

She gazed down at the city as they zoomed over it and out toward the desert. Even with it so terrifyingly far down, it was beautiful. Beautiful because she knew it was being restored, because she knew it was becoming what it had been when she was younger. It was what her family had fought and died for, what Vaan's brother had died for. It was going to continue to grow and change for the better. She really believed that now--she _had_ to believe that now. She wasn't under any illusions. She knew things could change in a heartbeat, but somewhere along the way, amidst the battles she had fought and the friendships she had forged, in the middle of traveling the world, she had made the decision to open that little pocket of dreams locked away, and she couldn't close it again. She didn't want to close it again.

Vaan waved a hand in front of her face. "What's _wrong _with you? You're never this distracted!"

"Hm?" Penelo looked over at him.

"Coordinates, Penelo," Vaan said, tapping her screen. "I need some navigation from my navigator."

"Oh, right. Sorry. I'm just thinking."

"About what?"

"Dreams."

Vaan raised his eyebrows at her. "Dreams, huh? You know, I had a really weird dream last night. You turned into a Pumpkin Head and--"

"Not _that _kind of dream," Penelo said dryly. "Though I'm certainly flattered that you're dreaming about me as a Pumpkin Head. I'm sure I was very attractive." She looked out at the endless expanse of sky. "I never really thought this day would come," she whispered, half to herself.

She felt pressure on her hand as Vaan took it and squeezed it. "Neither did I."

They smiled at each other, and then she set about to charting their course while Vaan set about to following it. They swooped off toward the horizon, toward another adventure in their life together…toward a wide open future of hopes and dreams.


	2. Hair

**A/N: I started this having no idea which prompt I was actually going to use, and then it turned into _hair, _which then became something I hadn't expected at all. Here's the end result. **

**Thank you so much to my reviewers: eolhcsullivan and IH8Abbreviations. **

**Feedback is very much appreciated. :)**

_**

* * *

**_

Prompt #7 - Hair

Penelo was crying when she came home. She burst through the front door and ran straight for the bedroom before Vaan could do more than register the fact that she was there. He heard a sob and caught a glimpse of her disappearing into the room before she slammed the door.

He blinked in surprise, and then worriedly walked over to her door and knocked on it. "Penelo?"

"Go away, Vaan!" Yeah, she was definitely crying, and from the sound of it, she was right on the other side of the door, probably sitting against it.

"Penelo, what happened?"

"Leave me alone," she choked out.

Vaan tried to open the door, but it was locked and the handle only rattled. He raised an eyebrow. Did she really think locking the door would keep him out? He rustled in his pockets, but before he could even pull out his lock picks, she said, "And don't even think about picking the lock!"

Vaan sighed and sank down against the other side of the door. "Fine. Then talk."

"I don't want to talk."

"Well, I don't want to sit outside your door and wonder why you're crying, but since you won't let me in, it looks like I'm stuck. And since you won't come out, you're stuck in there and I'll just sit out here and talk and nag and whine until you tell me what's wrong."

Penelo sniffled and hiccupped. "Gods, Vaan, you are so--"

"Charming?"

"_Frustrating!"_

"Yeah, people say that a lot. Especially you." His nonchalant tone belied his growing concern for her. He leaned back against the door. "What should I start with? Nagging or whining?"

"Vaan…"

"Let's go with nagging. Okay, how's this: Penelo. Penelo. Penellllooo…Penelo, Penelo, Penelo, Penelo, Penelo, Pene--" The door jerked open, making him fall backward. He looked up at Penelo from the ground. "See, I didn't even have to go into whining," he said, jumping to his feet. "I--" He trailed off when he got a good look at her, and his jaw dropped. "What happened to you?"

Though Penelo's face was wet from tears, she was giving him a dangerous look that warned him against opening his mouth.

Vaan, who flirted with danger on a daily basis, said, "Geez, you look like a chocobo!"

He then realized _maybe _that hadn't been the best thing to say, and fully expected Penelo to hit him for it. Instead, she just burst into tears and disappeared back into the room. Vaan caught the door with his foot before she could slam it. He pushed it open and let himself in while she flung herself facedown on the bed. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I was kidding, okay? You just startled me." His eyes were fixated on hair. One of her braids was completely undone, the hair raggedly sliced short, coming down to only her shoulder. The other braid was swiftly unraveling. It was a bit longer, but still shorter than it had been when she had left that morning. It looked like someone had taken a knife and sliced it diagonally from one side to the other. "Did you try to cut your hair with your dagger?" he asked dubiously.

Penelo lifted her head long enough to throw her pillow at him, which he caught. "No, you idiot!"

Vaan tossed her pillow aside and went to sit on the edge of the bed. "You didn't let Filo at it, did you? Because you know she--"

"Some people tried to mug me, Vaan!" Penelo snapped, turning her face away from him.

Vaan froze. "_What_? Are you okay?" His eyes worriedly scanned over the rest of her body, looking for any injuries he might have missed. Of course, Penelo could have already healed them… "Do you know who did it? I'll get--"

Penelo slowly sat up, wiping her face with her hands. "I'm not hurt. I took care of them; I'm not completely incompetent, you know."

"I know." Still, what was she doing walking around a part of town where she could be mugged and no one would come to help her? What if she had really gotten hurt? What if--?

Her fingers found the shortest part of her hair, and her lip trembled. "One of them grabbed my braids when I was fighting, to try to hold me still, I guess. I tried to get his hand with my dagger but he moved and I caught my hair instead." She reached into her pocket and pulled out the two chopped-off ends of her braids, one short and one long. "Do I really look like a chocobo?" she asked plaintively.

'No,' would have been the appropriate answer, but Vaan heard himself saying, "Only on the one side of your head." He mentally cursed himself and hastily added, "I'm sure it'll look great once it's, you know, even and brushed and all that stuff." He shifted his weight on the bed. "What's the big deal, anyway? It's just hair. It'll grow back."

Penelo's face immediately hardened into a look Vaan only saw when she was _really _mad at him. "Get out."

"Penelo--"

_"Get out!" _She jabbed her finger toward the door.

Vaan stood, looked at her for a moment, and then left, shutting the door behind himself. He rubbed the back of his neck in confusion. She had been much more upset at his last comment than she had about his chocobo one. He would have expected the last thing he said to cheer her up, not make her yell at him.

Shrugging, he walked over to the counter to grab a piece of fruit. He'd never understand women.

A while later, she was still locked in the bedroom, completely quiet. Vaan went and knocked on her door. "Penelo, I've gotta head out for a while. Migelo had some things he wanted us to take to Bhujerba on our next run there."

No answer.

"Well, I'll be back." He started to turn from the door, then hesitated. "Look, I'm sorry I made you mad, okay?"

He took a step away from the door when it opened, and Penelo stood there, looking at him. She had obviously taken a pair of scissors to her hair; it was all the same length, just at her shoulders. She was no longer crying, nor did she look angry. They gazed at each other for a moment, and then Penelo whispered, "My mom liked my long hair."

"Huh?"

Penelo stared down at her feet for a moment before again meeting Vaan's eyes. "My mom liked my long hair," she said, more firmly. "And…and when she died, I was so…so mad and hurt and I was so _angry _with her for dying and I didn't want to think about it, so I…cut my hair. Do you remember?"

"Uhh…" Vaan did remember that at some point Penelo had cut her hair, but she couldn't actually expect him to remember _when _she had done it, could she?

"I never let it get really long…not until--not until after we helped Rabanastre get restored. Then…" She trailed off and clasped her fingers together. "Then I could finally grow it long again." She fingered her short strands and bit her lip.

Oh. Her anger had to do with the memory of her mother and how her hair was somehow tied into it. That, at least, made sense to him. He rubbed the back of his head. "I'm sorry, Penelo."

"I'm probably being stupid. Like you said, it's just hair. It'll grow."

"Nah, it's not stupid. Nothing that reminds you of your mom and how much she loved you is stupid."

Penelo blinked at him, and a tiny smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. It wasn't much, but it was something. "Wow, Vaan, that sounded almost profound."

"What? I can be profound!"

Penelo walked past him. "Didn't you say something about a trip to Migelo's? I think I'll come with you. I was going to pick up some more phoenix down, but I didn't quite make it that far."

She walked out the door, and Vaan hurried after her. "Hey, I'm not done talking about my profoundity."

"_Profoundity?_ That's not a word, Vaan."

"It is now."

"You can be _profoundity _stupid, sometimes, Vaan," Penelo said. She suddenly stopped and hugged him quickly. "And I love you for it, profounditily."

"This is payback for saying you looked like a chocobo, isn't it?"

Penelo just smiled at him.


	3. Tied

**A/N: I was going to post this tomorrow, but since my muse _will not _shut up and I have so many of these to write anyway, I figured I'd just post two today. Thanks to SaxyGirl and eolhcsullivan for the reviews on the last prompt. :D**

* * *

**_Prompt #42 - Tied_**

"What did you do this time?" Penelo hissed under her breath. She wriggled and twisted her hands uselessly, her reward being a nice burn as the rope dug into her wrists.

"What do you mean, what did _I _do?" Vaan asked indignantly, trying to turn his head to look at her. The fact that they were tied back-to-back, joined at the wrists, made it rather difficult.

"We're _tied up in a storage closet, _in case you hadn't noticed!"

"Gee, thanks, Penelo, I don't think I could have figured that out."

"What are we doing here?" she demanded in aggravation.

"How am I supposed to know?" Vaan's tone echoed hers. "You think anytime anything goes wrong, it's _my _fault!"

"Because it usually is your fault!"

"It is not!"

"Ha!"

"Maybe if you stopped _arguing _and just worked on finding a way out of here--"

"Oh, _I'm _supposed to be finding a way out of here? What about you, oh wise sky pirate who got us into this mess?"

"This is _not my fault!"_ Vaan twisted further in his determination to look at her, pulling the rope tighter on both of their wrists.

"Ow! Stop moving already! I can't work on the ropes with you moving!" Penelo hissed.

"Oh, so now you want the job of finding a way out?" Vaan demanded, though he sat still.

"Well, since _you're _obviously not going to find one--"

"I didn't say that."

"Yes, you did, you--"

"Penelo? Shut up and hold still."

"Ex_cuse _me?" Penelo said indignantly. She swiveled her neck to look at him and knocked her head into his.

"I said hold still!" Vaan exclaimed. "Unless you want me to cut your hand off!"

"What're you--" Penelo stopped abruptly as she suddenly felt the ropes on her arms loosen and fall off entirely. Pulling her arms forward, she rubbed her wrists as she turned to look at Vaan. He was twirling a small knife in one hand and smirking.

"How did they not find that on you when they searched you?" Penelo asked.

"Oh, I have my ways," Vaan said smugly.

"Fine. You got us untied, but we're still locked in some closet on an airship."

"Come on, you can say it."

"Say what?"

"That I am totally and utterly amazing."

"I am totally and utterly amazing," Penelo said. "Now can we go, please? We--"

They both froze as the door to the storage closet burst open, and the Bangaa who had captured them and tied them up loomed in the doorway. "Trying to escape, are we?" he said, as soon as he saw them.

"Who are you? What do you want with us?" Vaan demanded.

"I want to know where Brigand is."

Vaan and Penelo exchanged glances. "Um…we know a lot of brigands. Mostly thieves. A few pirates. Maybe a queen," Vaan said thoughtfully.

"No, not _brigands. _Brigand! The sneaky bounty hunter ran off before paying his debt. But when he finds out I've got you--"

"Um, we don't know any bounty hunters named Brigand," Penelo said. "We don't know anyone named Brigand at all."

"You really expect me to believe a barmaid like you, Olivet?"

Penelo felt a headache coming on. "My name is Penelo. And Vaan, you have permission to hit me over the head with something really heavy if I ever decide to become a barmaid."

"I'll keep that in mind," Vaan said.

"Vaan?" The Bangaa narrowed his eyes. "But…you are not Thadus?"

"Who's Thadus?" Vaan asked.

"You are!" the Bangaa exploded.

"I am not!"

"You are too!"

"I am _not!"_

The Bangaa stared at the two of them for a minute. "You're both lying! You're trying to protect Brigand. Well, it won't work; I've got the make of--uggghhh..." His eyes closed and he collapsed to the ground before he could finish his rant.

Vaan looked at Penelo in appreciation. "Nice sleep spell."

"Why, thank you. Shall we find a way off this ship now, Thadus?"

Vaan made a face at her as he jumped over the Bangaa, reaching a hand back over for Penelo. She took it and leapt over their captor. "See? It was a case of mistaken identity. I told you it wasn't my fault. And you know, your clothes do look kind of like a barmaid's. Ow!" Vaan rubbed the back of his head where Penelo had smacked him.

"Let's just get out of here. _Without_ talking about my clothes."

"Hey, keep in mind that I'm the one who saved our necks back there. I had the knife."

"I'm the one who knocked the Bangaa out. We'll call it even."

"We make a pretty good team."

"Yeah," Penelo said with a little smile. "We do."


	4. Shine

**A/N: A little bit different on the style and theme here. Thank you to eolhcsullivan for reviewing. Sorry I haven't replied to it yet!**

**This is for my friend Mak, because she is amazing and fantastic. And maybe just because I care about her so much. -tackle hugs- **

_**

* * *

**_

Prompt #41 - Shine

She does not know how beautiful she is. She is the girl who sparkles, but she doesn't see this. She is fifteen going on twenty and she drives him crazy sometimes trying to constantly watch over him, but he does the same for her and wouldn't want it any other way. She brightens up his own miserable days; she teases and irritates him and makes him want to pull all his hair--or hers--out sometimes, but he loves her in spite of it.

He loves her because of it.

She gives him her hope; he is drawn to her light and her warmth, and the beauty that she does not see. She sees herself as plain, ordinary, unworthy of the attention people give her. She is her own worst critic, and it always seems she cannot see her own merit, no matter how many other people talk about it.

She's too hurt and lonely to understand, but she does a very good job of hiding it, most of the time. Sometimes at night, the darkness seems to take hold of her just a little bit and he gets glimpses of her pain.

"Everyone leaves," she whispers when she thinks he's sleeping. "Everyone leaves me."

He wants to tell her that he is right there with her, but that means admitting that he's listening, which will make her withdraw into herself, so he says nothing.

She brushes her fingertips across his arm, so light and faint he wonders for a moment if he really felt it at all. "You should just leave now, Vaan," she says. "Before you realize that I'm not worth it."

She starts to cry then, and he can't keep quiet any longer, but he's scared, too, and he doesn't know what to say to make it better. Her mom would have known. Reks would have known. But he is not her mother or Reks and he doesn't know. He doesn't know how to tell her how much she shines in his eyes.

He sits up and he puts his arms around her, awkwardly patting her back because he thinks that it's something Reks would have done, and Reks always knew how to make her feel better. She pushes against him at first, pushes him away, and he almost lets her go, but he's too scared to let go because what if she's so upset that she leaves_ him_? He doesn't want her to leave. So he holds onto her more tightly until she collapses against him, crying and wiping her nose on his shoulder, and he wishes he could do something else. Something to make her understand that there is no one else like her in the entire world, no one who could ever replace her, no one who could smile her smile and laugh her laugh, who could ease his fears and who held them both together.

Her mother used to tell them that there was a time for everything, a reason for everything. Even if you can't see what it is in the midst of what you're going through, she said, one day you will look back and understand.

So he holds onto Penelo, and he holds onto that thought for her. That one day she will understand. She will realize she is beautiful. She will realize she is special, and loveable, and more graceful when she dances than any other girl could hope to be. One day she will smile because she is happy, not because she is trying to seem happy for everyone else. She will realize just how much he cares about her, even if she doesn't know, right now, how anyone can truly love her that much.

He can't make her realize any of this, and he knows it. All he can do is stand by her side and remind her that he's there, until that one day comes.

_No,_ he thinks. He'll stand by her side and remind her he's there even after that one day comes.

So he shifts her in his arms and pulls her closer, and he finally whispers, "I'm still here."


	5. Kiss

**A/N: Thank you so much to eolhcsullivan, Destatikai, lucin (I'd reply to your wonderful reviews, but you reply anonymously so I can't do a review reply…so let me just say THANK YOU, you are fantastic!!), and IH8Abbrieviations for the reviews. :) Your feedback really does inspire me.**

**I know it's a day early, but a huge happy birthday to eolhcsullivan. This one is for you, Shanna! -hugs-**

_**

* * *

**_

Prompt #8 - Kiss

Penelo looked like she was ready to scream, and Vaan's first thought was _I didn't do anything!_ Of course, a lot of the times Penelo got angry with him, he hadn't a clue _why_, but she had been perfectly happy with him five minutes ago when she had run off to look at the fruit vendor's wares. Now, though, as she practically stomped around two men standing in front of the meat seller in the bazaar, she looked ready to explode.

Vaan took an inadvertent step backward, eyeing her approach with some foreboding. If _he _hadn't set her off, then who had? He wanted to know so he could track them down and give them a piece of his mind so they would have some appreciation as to how difficult it was to calm her down when she looked like _that._

Before he could even open his mouth, she stopped in front of him and thrust a bag of fruit into his arms so hard he wondered if she had just managed to bruise half of her purchase. "Pe-ne-lo," she said, jerkily and angrily.

"Um…?"

_"Penelo!"_

Vaan blinked at her several times. "I know what your name is." Was someone around here smoking something hallucinogenic, and she had somehow inhaled it? He eyed the bag of fruit with some trepidation. "Are these things drugged? Did you eat one?"

"What are you talking about?" Penelo exploded.

"What are _you _talking about?"

"My name!"

"Yeah, I realized _that _much! Give me some credit here!"

"Is it _really _that difficult to say?"

"Your name?"

"Yes, my name! I mean, Penelo. It's a nice name, don't you think? Only three syllables, not too much of a mouthful. Maybe it's not grand and fancy, but it's my name, and I think it fits me pretty well, and my parents gave it to me, and I don't think it's _really--"_

"Penelo!"

"_See!?_ _You _figured it out!" She stomped angrily away, twisting lithely through the crowds of shoppers at the bazaar, while Vaan hurried to follow her. He shifted the weight of the bag of fruit onto one arm and pushed through two Seeqs. "Penelo, wait up a second!"

She stopped at the bottom of the stairs and whirled toward him. She glared at him for a full five seconds before she collapsed onto the bottom stair and let out a long sigh. Vaan plopped down next to her and set the fruit at his feet. "What's this about?" he asked, nudging her with his shoulder.

"I'm Penelo," she said, but she didn't sound angry anymore. Just resigned.

"We've been over that."

"Penelo. Not Penny, not Pen, not Nelly--"

Vaan nearly choked in an attempt not to laugh, which he knew would not have helped the situation. "Who calls you Nelly?"

Penelo waved a hand dismissively. "The crazy merchant in Lowtown."

"You do know she's, um, crazy, right?"

"That's why I said _the crazy merchant _in Lowtown."

"I just meant that you can't take anything she says seriously."

"Some people around here can't seem to figure out that, you know, I might not actually _want _a nickname."

"You should tell them."

"I _try._"

"You're too nice to people. Next time just punch them or something."

"Yeah, that will solve everything." Penelo rolled her eyes and stood up, snatching the bag off the ground and propping it on her hip. "Let's just go home, okay?"

"Sure thing, Penny."

There was a thump as the bag in Penelo's arms hit the ground, and then a resounding _smack_, followed by, "OW! I was just _kidding! _Penelo! I didn't mean punch _me!_ Penelo, come on!" Grabbing the bag of food, he raced after her and caught up with her at the top of the steps leading toward Rabanastre's northern plaza.

He grabbed her arm with one hand and set the now very bruised bag of fruit by his feet without letting go of her. "C'mon, Pen."

Her eyes glinted furiously at him. "Vaan, I swear to--mmph!" She tried to smack him as his lips met hers, but he caught both her hands in his, holding onto them even as he pulled his face away from her.

She was still glaring fiercely at him. "You think you can just make me mad and expect a kiss to make it better?" she demanded.

"No. I just couldn't resist. You look so pretty when you're mad."

"Vaan," she said warningly, but he ignored her and slid in to kiss her again. This time she only held out for a moment before her lips parted and she leaned into him. When her eyes slowly opened, he saw that all traces of anger had drained from her face. Sighing, she rested her forehead against his chest and said, "You drive me crazy."

He squeezed her hands once and then finally let go, again snatching the abused fruit off the ground and into the crook of his arm. "I know."

She stared at him for a moment as though expecting more teasing, but when he held out his free hand to her, she took it and fell into step beside him as they headed home.

They hadn't gone more than ten steps when a man Vaan vaguely recognized as one of Migelo's customers passed them and waved. "Hey, Vaan, Penny!"

There was a loud squelching sound as a piece of the very abused fruit smacked the man on the back of his head. He whirled around and stared at them. Vaan pointed at Penelo, who pointed at him, and then they both just looked at each other. "I think we should run now," Vaan whispered. He tugged on her hand, and they took off down the street. They were well out of sight of the man before they both stopped and burst out laughing.

"Feel better now?" Vaan asked Penelo.

"That was really mean," she giggled.

"Ah, he'll get over it. He gets a piece of fruit that _we _paid for."

Penelo leaned over and pressed her mouth to his briefly. "You're hopeless."

He grinned at her. "I love you, too…Penelo."


	6. Morgue

**A/N: Thank you a million times to IH8Abbrieviations, eolhcsullivan, lucin, and Destatikai for reviewing. Lucin, just so you know, you can always sign up for an account on here and you don't have to write anything to keep it. There are people who have been on here for years and they only have accounts so they can read and favorite stories, or keep track of when stories they're reading are updated. Just in case you ever do want to get one. I like using my account just to be able to organize all the stories I'm reading or that I liked and might want to read again later. ;)**

**This prompt came about because I was wondering what in the world I was going to do for "morgue," and also because I've always thought a lot about Vaan and Penelo's families. They hardly ever get mentioned, and I still don't think I did them justice in this piece, but at least I got to write a glimpse…you'll see what I mean.**

**Reviews are, as always, very much appreciated. :)**

_**

* * *

**_

Prompt #14 - Morgue

Penelo had been friends with Vaan for as long as she could remember. Their parents had known each other for years, and since Penelo was born six months after Vaan, they grew up together. There were times when they were younger that they had both just wanted to curl up in embarrassment and die when their parents would start talking about all the _adorable _things they had done together when they were too young to have a say about it. Reks, being the perfect big brother that he was, took great delight in repeating these awkward stories to his friends. Vaan would always mutter how lucky Penelo was that _her _youngest brother was a good eight years older than her, as if that kept them from teasing her any less.

Fortunately, later in life Reks did learn maturity, but sometimes he would still rag on Vaan and Penelo "just because it's good to remember these things," he would smirk.

She had been naïve back then, sure everything would stay the same. Sure that their families would always be friends, that they would always be around. But then there were a lot of whispers about stirrings in Archadia, and her brothers joined the ranks of the Dalmascan army. She would never forget the way her mother had said to Penelo's brothers, "There are _always _stirrings in Archadia!" She would never forget how her mother had cried on the kitchen floor late at night after her brothers left, when Penelo's father was working his night shift and Penelo was supposed to be sleeping.

Penelo was eleven and Vaan was twelve when the plague struck the citizens of Rabanastre. Everywhere she went in the city, there was sickness and death, and she was terrified by it. She was so scared that she would get sick, that her parents would get sick, that Vaan, her best friend in the entire world would get sick and die and then who would she have?

Fate was nothing if not ironic, and it wasn't any of them who got the plague, but Vaan's own parents. That was when everything changed. Reks became much more sober and serious, and started trying to take all responsibility on his shoulders. Vaan was withdrawn at first, and then he started to just go and go and go, running through the city, always looking for something to keep him busy, to keep him from focusing on the fact that his parents were dying. Penelo didn't know what to do; she knew nothing she did or said could help, but she couldn't just leave him alone. So she tagged after him, even when he got annoyed with her and told her to just go home. Instead of listening, she'd just say, "Hey, Vaan, how about we go explore that old section of Lowtown? Migelo said he heard there's some treasure down there!" And he would relent and they'd be off on an adventure of distraction.

Two months before Penelo turned twelve, Vaan came to her family's house in the middle of the night. He entered through her bedroom window, scaring Penelo out of her wits until she realized who the heap of limbs and nightclothes on her floor was. "Vaan?" she hissed. She slid out of bed, shivering a little as the chilly night air blew through her room. She crouched down next to him on the floor, unsure as to what to do. He'd never come to their house in the middle of the night, let alone ever broken in through her _window._ Why hadn't he just come to the door and knocked? Maybe she should get her parents…

But when she touched his shoulder and he finally looked up at her, she saw the tears covering his face, and she froze. She hadn't seen Vaan cry since he was six and had sprained his ankle after jumping out of a tree to prove that he could fly if he really wanted to. "Vaan?" she whispered.

His face hit her legs, and he was suddenly sobbing into her nightdress, clutching it so tightly she vaguely wondered if he was going to tear holes in it. Then she was crying, too, crying for him, crying for his parents, crying because he was hurting and she couldn't fix it.

That was how Penelo's parents found them when they hurried into her room, awakened because of all the noise. Penelo's father tucked a blanket around the two of them and went to make a hot, sweet drink while her mother sat beside them on the floor and held them both tightly, murmuring to Vaan so quietly that Penelo couldn't quite make out the words. When they had both stopped crying, her father brought them out to the couch and coaxed them into drinking his sugar-laced concoction, and then her mother sat with them the rest of the night. She let them stay on the couch with the light on, and didn't leave them even when they fell asleep leaning against each other.

Two days later, Reks and Vaan lost their parents to the plague. It appeared that one had died during the night, and the other that morning, as though they had both held out for as long as possible, but then they both went. Penelo's mother and father went to "handle it," whatever that meant. How could death just be something you could _handle?_

Penelo got a glimpse of Vaan's parents' bodies as they were carried out to be cremated with the many other plague victims, and she wished that she had not seen. They looked nothing like the loving, joyful people she had known her entire life. Gone was the man who had teased her like she was his own daughter and taught her how to balance a ball on her head. Gone was the woman who had let her make a mess of her kitchen as she tried rather unsuccessfully to teach her the basics of cooking, and who had whispered conspiratorially to her about boys. They were nothing now but wasted, empty shells.

Vaan and Reks were there watching, too, and as soon as their parents were taken away, Vaan whirled and fled down the street.

"Vaan!" Reks called after him, but the younger boy didn't pay any attention. Penelo turned to run after him, but Reks caught her arm and brought her to a stop. He shook his head, his face strained and pale, his eyes full of his anguish. "Let him go," he told her. "He needs to be alone."

"But--" But she didn't want him to be alone. He tried so hard sometimes to be alone, and she knew what to do for him when he was like that.

"I know, but this is different, Penelo." Reks's eyes closed tightly. "You don't know," he said, his voice thick and heavy. "You don't know."

Tears spilled down Penelo's cheeks as he let her go and turned to walk slowly down the street. She knew they hadn't been her parents. She couldn't understand completely. But she had loved them, too, and she was going to miss them.

She wiped her eyes, Reks's words to her making her feel guilty, like she shouldn't be crying. Like she didn't have a right to cry, because her parents were alive and well. She knew he hadn't meant it that way, but it still hurt. She hurt everywhere inside, and she sat down on the steps outside her house and pressed her hands over her mouth, trying to contain the sobs that wanted release.

_I have to be strong, _she told herself. _I have to be strong_. Strong for Vaan and for Reks, who were going to be living in Penelo's brothers' old rooms, who would need all the strength she could give them. She would show them that she could be strong. She _could _be strong.

:--:--:

Three years later, when Penelo was staring at Reks's lifeless body, looking into his empty eyes, she felt nothing but hollow. Completely empty. He had been the last, the last of their families left alive. Gone were her parents, her brothers, and now Vaan's brother as well. All taken by the Imperials, by this stupid, stupid war.

How long, she wondered numbly, as she watched them take Reks away--_no, not Reks, that wasn't Reks anymore, just his body--_until she lost Vaan, too? Or until he lost her? Almost every single person she loved was dead. She had nothing, no family, no home. Nothing and no one except for Vaan, and sometimes even he eluded her. He had started going as soon as his parents fell ill and he had never really stopped. Always running, always trying to get away from the pain and the memories, and Penelo wanted to scream at him sometimes, scream at him to stop running because she was still there and she needed him, that she had lost, too, and she was just as scared and angry, but she couldn't. She still had to be strong. Strong for him, and for herself, and for the growing number of orphaned children that seemed to look up to them. It was scary to think that some of these kids saw her as their substitute mother figure. She was only fifteen. What did she know about being a mother? How was she supposed to teach little girls how to be a woman when she didn't know how to be one herself? When the mother who was supposed to be there for her, who was supposed to teach her how to be a woman, had been murdered by Imperials?

So she smiled. She smiled, and she laughed, and she danced. She worked for her parents' friend Migelo and she put on a brave face for the world. She tried to keep Vaan out of trouble and she made sure the younger children had food in their stomachs before they went to bed, even if it meant she didn't eat. And Vaan always seemed to know when she had given her supper to the kids, because those were the times he gave her half of his food. Or he snuck off to steal food and made her eat it even when she ranted at him about the dangers of theft. "What if you're caught, what if you're arrested?" she always demanded. _What if I lose you?_

When she closed her eyes, the faces of the dead haunted her, and sometimes she couldn't hold onto the strength she needed and she would cry. She would cry out of fear that one day, she would close her eyes and Vaan's face would be among them. She would cry because she missed her father's laughter and her mother's singing, and her brothers' teasing, and Reks' infectious grin.

And sometimes, when Vaan wasn't so busy running away from his own fears, he would be there when her walls crumbled. Then she would allow herself, just for a few desperate minutes, to be weak and let him be strong. She would weep, and sometimes she would say things that she wouldn't have said otherwise. That she shouldn't have said. Her anger at her family for dying would pour out, and then she would tell him how sorry she was that she was angry. She would tell him about her fear and she would beg him to stay. _"Don't leave me, don't leave me, please don't leave me."_

For those few minutes, even though she was crying because she was terrified and miserable, she somehow felt better, because Vaan was there beside her.

Sometimes, for even a little while, she didn't feel so alone.


	7. Stutter

**A/N: Thank you again to my reviewers: Destatikai, lucin--now Drink. Juice :D--eolhcsullivan, and IH8Abbrieviations.**

**I worked on this prompt in between editing my co-written original manuscript (I probably should have just focused entirely on editing, seeing as I **_**have to finish**_** so I can have it ready to submit to my publisher, but Vaan/Penelo are just eating my brain). I decided, for future reference, that it might not be such a good idea to go back and forth between the two when I mention Ashe at all, because it just so happens that for five years now, "Ashe" has been an older, male **_**fairy**_** character in these original novels, for much longer than I've known Ashe, Queen of Dalmasca. Trying to switch my brain between Ashe-older-male-fairy and Ashe-teenage-queen can be a little awkward in my head sometimes. ;)**

**And…on with the next prompt. I'm not doing so terribly as I thought I might--already got seven out of the fifty done, and it's only been a week! Huzzah!**

* * *

_**Prompt #21 - Stutter**_

Penelo lay shivering in the tent she was sharing with Ashe and Fran, her blanket wrapped around her like a cocoon. Everything but her eyes and nose was completely covered, but she was still freezing. She had lost feeling in her fingers and toes hours ago, despite her gloves and boots. She wasn't sure how Fran, who hadn't even bothered to purchase any warm clothing at the bottom of the Paramina Rift, could possibly be _alive, _let alone sleeping so peacefully.

She had no idea how long it was actually going to take to get all the way up to Mt. Bur-Omisace, but this was only their first night camping out and she was ready to turn around and head back until she reached the Golmore Jungle. Marlboros and hellhounds were starting to look quite inviting in comparison.

She huddled further under her blanket, to little avail. Even _Ashe _was managing to sleep, and though she was covered in every possible thick piece of clothing she'd been able to get her hands on, Penelo was still mildly flabbergasted. They were from the same climate, after all; so why wasn't Ashe shaking like crazy?

After a while longer, Penelo finally gave up. She wanted to be _warm, _and she wasn't getting warm here. Disentangling herself from her blanket, she snatched it up, took a deep breath, and plunged out of the tent. The icy wind sent a shock through her, sucking her breath out of her lungs. It was so cold that she wouldn't have been surprised if she had frozen solid right there, but somehow, she made the dive across the short space to the men's tent. She let in a blast of snow when she pushed into it, causing Balthier to roll over, and Basch to bolt upright, reaching instinctively for his sword. Vaan half sat, blinking at her.

Basch lowered his hand when he saw Penelo, shaking like a leaf at the entrance to the tent. "Penelo? Are you well?"

"J-j-just f-f-fine," she stuttered. "S-sorry to w-w-wake you." Without further explanation, she crawled over to Vaan. Silently, he unwound his blanket from around himself and lifted the edge of it so she could slip underneath it. She spread her own blanket on top of both of them, and then curled up against Vaan.

Basch looked at them for a moment, as if considering speaking, but then lay back down.

Penelo was a little warmer now that she had Vaan and two blankets, but she wasn't actually getting any of the body heat he usually exuded, being that they were both wearing thick clothing. Still, it was better than it had been before.

Not enough to get her to stop shivering, though, and Vaan kept opening his eyes to frown at her, either out of concern for her or because he was annoyed that she was keeping him awake. He finally yanked off his gloves, grabbed her hands, and before she could protest, he pulled hers off, too. "Gods, your hands are like icicles," he whispered as his hands, somehow warm, touched hers.

To her further surprise, he pulled her hands up underneath his layers of shirts and pressed them against his stomach, letting out a hissing breath when her freezing skin made contact. Though Penelo was still shivering, she felt strangely hot as her fingers tensed against Vaan's muscles, and especially when his hands worked their way under her jacket and stopped on her back, on top of the bodysuit she always wore. Though there was still a layer of clothing between his hands and her skin, his touch sent a shudder through her body that she didn't think had anything to do with the cold.

"Well, that's why you're freezing," he muttered to her. "Didn't you take this off before you stuck on all your warmer gear?"

"N-n-no." Penelo flipped her hands over so that the backs of them could get warm on Vaan's skin. "I thought th-that the m-m-more clothes I wore, the b-b-better."

Vaan sighed in her ear. "That bodysuit was made to be worn in a desert, Penelo."

"S-so?"

"So don't you remember Migelo talking about the shipment of cloth he got that rejected heat?"

"N-no."

"Hm. Oh, that's right. You weren't there that day."

"Y-y-you remember something about _cloth?_" she asked disbelievingly, teeth chattering harder than ever.

"Only because he went on and on about it and that's when he gave me that outfit--" Vaan poked her in the back "--and told me to give it to you."

"…and you c-couldn't have mentioned this _earlier?"_

"I didn't think about it! It's just--clothes. Who cares what they're made out of?"

Though they were speaking in undertones, Penelo darted a look over toward Basch and Balthier, afraid they would wake them. "_I _d-d-do, when I'm traveling through a b-b-blizzard!"

"That's why I'm mentioning it now."

Had Penelo not been so grateful for the warmth of his skin under her hands, she might have stuck her tongue out at him. She was also a little afraid her tongue might decide to freeze that way if she did, so she kept it in her mouth. "I d-d-don't know. W-wouldn't my other c-c-clothes keep the heat in?"

"I don't know. There's only one way to find out."

"Vaan, if y-y-you are suggesting I _s-strip_ right now--"

"You're still shivering."

"I'll w-warm up."

She felt him shrug. "Okay."

Ten minutes later, Penelo's hands and arms were warm, as was the one part of her back where Vaan's hands rested, but the rest of her could not seem to get rid of the chill. She started thinking that maybe Vaan did have a point about her outfit.

Ten minutes after _that, _she was still too cold to care about anything but getting warm, so she decided to give Vaan's theory a shot. She sat up and made him hold a blanket in front of her, blocking her view of Basch and Balthier. His eyes were screwed shut as she worked as quickly as she could to get her desert outfit off of herself. They were both shuddering and probably half-frostbitten by the time she had managed to redress herself in only her warm clothes, and she hastily shoved her arms back up Vaan's shirt while they huddled under the blankets. His hands again found their way onto her back, this time touching her skin, and she reflexively jerked when she felt how cold they were. "Ahh! N-now whose hands are l-l-like icicles?"

"Yours aren't s-so w-w-warm, either," Vaan reminded her.

She plastered herself to his body and pressed her cheek against his, greedily absorbing any warmth he had to offer. Gradually both of them stopped shuddering and shaking, and Penelo finally began to feel comfortably sleepy.

"You know," Vaan murmured, half-asleep, his face pressed against her neck, sharing in what little heat she had to offer in return, "we'd probably be a lot warmer without any clothes at all. Ow!" he complained when Penelo pinched him.

Penelo's face burned, and she was glad Vaan couldn't see it. "Don't push your luck."

"Hey, I'm not the one who crawled in here to steal my warmth."

"I'm not the one who suggested we get _naked._"

"Ungghh…will you two _please _hush or _go get your own tent?"_ Balthier groaned from the far side of the tent.

Penelo suppressed a giggle. "I think Balthier could do with some extra warmth," she said in a loud whisper.

"Maybe Ashe would be available," Vaan added.

Basch sat straight up next to them and gave them a warning look that could have melted half the snow on the Paramina Rift. Instead of sobering them, it made both Vaan and Penelo burst into laughter.

Balthier muttered something about "immature" and "teenagers."

Penelo smiled vaguely, her eyes closing, and breathed a contented sigh against Vaan's cheek as she drifted off to sleep, wrapped snugly--and warmly--in his arms.


	8. Celebrate

**A/N: Again, thanks so much to my reviewers: IH8Abbrieviations, Destatikai, and Drink. Juice. :) **

**I thought it would be appropriate if I wrote the prompt "celebrate" today, first of all because it's my birthday, and second of all because I became an aunt last night when my younger sister gave birth to her baby girl. :D**

**Now I've got to go get my kids started on their schoolwork…and get some editing done… ;)**

_**

* * *

**__****_

Prompt #13 - Celebrate

"Penelo. Penelo."

Something tickled Penelo's nose, and she waved her hand in front of her face, trying to chase away whatever nuisance was disturbing her sleep.

"Penelo…"

It was Vaan, she drowsily realized. Of _course _it was Vaan. Who else would be brushing something ticklish across her face in the middle of the night, badgering her so that she couldn't get the rest she so sorely needed? "Go 'way," she mumbled, rolling onto her side and throwing her hand across her face.

There was a heaved sigh, and then his arms were hooked under her knees and around her back. Her eyes snapped open when she was lifted off her blanket, and she blinked groggily at Vaan. "What are you _doing?"_ Her voice was thick and slurred from sleep as he took her out of the room.

"Carrying you."

"_Really_?" Penelo wriggled out of his arms, and he helped her along by trying to set her on her feet at the same time. The result was that she was practically dumped on the ground and went sprawling.

"Oops." Vaan hauled her back to her feet, brushing dirt off of one of her shoulders while she wiped dirt off her face.

She was, unfortunately, quite awake now, and also quite irritated. She glared at Vaan, even while she grabbed his arm to keep from falling over because she was still completely exhausted and a little dizzy. "I have to get up in the morning and work at Migelo's," she told him flatly. "So if you don't mind…"

"You don't have to get up," Vaan said. He grabbed her hand and tugged her through Lowtown.

She found herself stumbling alongside him. "Vaan! What are you talking about, of course I have to get up; I have to _eat, _don't--"

He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, opened his mouth, and then closed it and shook his head. "Just come with me."

Knowing Vaan and knowing that he wouldn't relent, she resigned herself to the fact that she was not going to get back to bed until he had showed her…whatever it was he so desperately wanted her to see.

She pressed instinctively closer to him, her hand tightening on his, as they wound their way through Lowtown and climbed the stairs up to the city. It was during the night when some of the more unsavory characters took to the streets, and all she had on her was her dagger.

"Close your eyes," Vaan said.

"What?"

"Close them," Vaan repeated.

She stared at him for a moment, glancing around nervously. He let go of her hand and stepped behind her, covering her eyes with his hands. "We're almost there," he said, nudging her forward.

She pushed his hands away. "I'll close them, I'll close them."

"Good." He moved his hands, and she squeezed her eyes shut. He took her hand again and tugged, going slow enough that she wouldn't trip. She was unnerved by not being able to see anything, especially on the streets in the middle of the night, but she kept her mouth shut and wondered what insanity had come over Vaan this time.

Finally, she heard the sound of a door squeaking open, and the cold night air disappeared as she was pulled into somewhere warm. "Okay, you can look," Vaan told her, and she opened her eyes, blinking, to find that she was standing just inside the Sandsea. It was closed for the night, and so completely empty--no, almost empty, she amended. Tomaj was leaning back in a chair, and he stood when they came in.

Before Penelo could so much as move, he had tugged on both her braids and grinned at her. "Happy birthday, Penelo!"

Penelo stared at him, and then at Vaan, who was smiling at her. "W-what?" She finally realized that there were drinks on the table where Tomaj had been sitting, as well as a small, lopsided cake. "It's…my birthday?"

Tomaj chuckled while Vaan rolled his eyes. "How could you forget your sixteenth birthday, Penelo?" Vaan asked.

"I've…been busy…" Penelo said slowly. That explained why Vaan said she didn't have work in the morning; Migelo had refused to let her work on her birthday, instead giving her the gil she would have normally earned as a gift.

Then she frowned at Vaan. "You remembered?"

"Hey, I only forgot your birthday once."

"Twice."

"For sixteen years, that's not so bad." Vaan dragged her forward and sat her at the table, and then both he and Tomaj sat on either side of her. "Besides, you just forgot your _own _birthday."

Tomaj shoved a drink into her hand, handed Vaan another one, and picked up the third. He held it out toward Penelo. "To Penelo, the most beautiful sixteen-year-old in Rabanastre."

Penelo shook her head and rolled her eyes. Tomaj, always trying to be the smooth one…and judging from the glare on Vaan's face, the sentiment wasn't entirely appreciated. She smiled slightly at both of them, raised her cup to her lips, and took a drink--then promptly choked and spit it out all over the table, just barely missing the droopy cake. She'd never tasted anything so strong--or so disgusting--in her life.

Vaan and Tomaj both burst out laughing. "Guess you're awake for sure now, huh?" Vaan asked her. He grinned and clapped her on the back while she continued to cough and sputter. "Happy birthday, Penelo."


	9. Alone

**A/N: You reviewers make my day. Thanks to IH8Abbrieviations, Drink. Juice, eolhcsullivan, Destatikai, and Feeny for the wonderful feedback. :)**

**This prompt came about because I was thinking a lot about a couple of parts in Final Fantasy XII. The first part being when Penelo told Vaan that it had been a long time since they had done anything together, and she'd had fun tromping around the Giza Plains with him, and the second being when Vaan was telling Ashe about how he was always trying to run away until he started his journey. It makes sense to me that when you've lost so much, you're scared of losing again, and it can be all too easy to emotionally run away from the people you love the most. Thus, I wrote this one-shot.**

* * *

_**Prompt #3 - Alone**_

"Then it's settled. We should leave before the Marquis realizes she's missing, like proper kidnappers."

Fran's words were the last ones spoken as the _Strahl _departed quietly from Bhujerba, stealing Ashe away from her uncle so she could go hunting for the Dawn Shard. Vaan sat in his seat, eyes forward, though he could feel Penelo's gaze practically drilling a hole in the back of his head. He was scared to turn around and look at her. The pain and turmoil that had been in her eyes when she had spoken only moments earlier, pleading with him not to leave her there...

He didn't want to see it. He knew he had caused it, and he didn't want to see it.

Still, he couldn't avoid her, or her stare, for long. He finally turned in his seat and met her eyes. The expression in them had changed slightly; there was still the hurt and desperation, but there was a hardness to her gaze that made him instantly want to squirm. He opened his mouth, not exactly sure what was going to come out of it, but before he could find out, Penelo jumped up from her seat and hurried out of the cockpit.

The abruptness of her departure caught everyone's attention, and Vaan instantly found himself the object of all of their stares. When he just sat there for a moment, Balthier raised his eyebrows. "Well?"

"What?" Vaan demanded.

Balthier suppressed a sigh. "Go after your girl, Vaan."

"I was going to!" Vaan exclaimed. "I just--" Needed a moment to try to figure out what was going on with her, even though he thought he knew and just didn't want to think about it right now, because it was all his fault anyway.

He sighed and shoved out of his chair and headed to the back of the _Strahl. _He followed the narrow hallway around a corner and found Penelo sitting on the floor in the hall, watching as he approached.

He stopped in front of her, shifting on his feet. This was really the first moment they'd had alone since running into each other on board the _Leviathan _earlier that afternoon. There had been so many things he had wanted to tell her then. Never had he been so relieved to see her, and he was sure it had been the same for her.

Now, though, the relief had worn off into something else. Guilt for him, and for her, he suspected, a lot of things that were making him feel guilty.

Penelo stared up at him, and finally spoke quietly. "You came to the Bhujerba Mines looking for me."

"Yes." Vaan finally sat in front of her, keeping his eyes on hers the whole time.

"I thought I'd never see you again."

Yeah, that thought had crossed his mind on more than one occasion the last couple of days, too, particularly when he found himself in Nalbina Dungeons…and making his way through the fiend-infested Barheim Passage…

With a suddenness that startled him, Penelo launched herself at him, knocking him backward. He hit his head on the wall, but it hurt nothing in comparison to the fists he found hitting his chest. Not that Penelo was actually physically hurting him; there wasn't much strength behind her hands, probably because she was also suddenly trembling violently. It hurt because he knew that it was his fault that she was sad and angry.

He grabbed her wrists, stopping her futile assault on him, and at his touch, she crumbled against him, her legs straddling him and her face hitting his chest. She wasn't crying at all, but somehow, the way her body was shaking was so much worse than if she had just burst into tears. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he told her.

She stiffened and tried to pull her hands away from him. She succeeded in getting one free and smacked him across the face with it before he grabbed her wrist again. "You lied to me. You told me you wouldn't go anywhere. You told me…"

"I know." Vaan held tightly to her wrists and closed his eyes to block out the sight of her anguish. "I'm sorry. I was just…I was trying to…"

"You were trying to break into the palace and steal!" Penelo exclaimed. "Was it worth it, Vaan? Was it worth…" Her voice broke and Vaan finally opened his to look at her. There were still no tears on her cheeks, but her eyes--she could never hide what she was feeling in her eyes. "You left me alone. How could you? _How could you _when I--when you--when we--"

He risked letting go of her wrists to put his arms around her. She collapsed against him again and clutched at his shoulders, but at least she didn't start hitting him again. "I'm sorry," he repeated, though it sounded hollow and empty to even his ears, because how could 'I'm sorry' fix everything he had just put them both through?

"I…" Penelo shook her head. "I was so afraid I had lost you, Vaan. I feel like…I feel like lately I've been slowly losing you anyway. You're always busy. Always trying to keep busy. Always…always running…always leaving me alone…even when you're there, you don't always feel _there…_"

He didn't have an answer for this, because she was right, and he knew it. He hadn't really realized it until he was thrown in the dungeon and then dragging himself through Barheim Passage, but all he'd been able to think about--besides staying alive--was Penelo. Then, getting back to Rabanastre and finding out she'd been kidnapped because of _him_, he'd realized how close he had come to losing _her._

It had terrified him more than anything else. "I--" He started to speak, but wasn't quite sure how to articulate what he was thinking. He'd been running for a long time, and lately, the past few months at least, he had been running a lot because of Penelo. She was the person in his life who mattered the most to him, and he was scared of losing her. There was a part of him that had started trying to run from her so that if he _did_ lose her, maybe it wouldn't hurt so much. He hadn't even realized he'd been doing that until he found out she'd been kidnapped, when he had just been desperate to get her back. He'd had a lot of time to think while flying toward Bhujerba to search for her. "I think…I realized I was more afraid of not being with you than I was of losing you," he whispered.

She pulled back a little to look at him, but he couldn't read the emotion in her eyes. "I'm scared, too," she whispered. "I don't want to be alone."

His fingers touched her cheek, and it was only then that tears filled her eyes and trickled silently down her face and against his fingertips. "I don't want to be alone, either," he said. "I won't leave you alone anymore. I promise. I _promise._"

Penelo wrapped her arms around his neck, and he held her tightly as she sat there on his lap, unmoving, fingers digging into his shoulders.

Part of him was scared. Part of him just wanted to get up right then and walk away, because if he were to really admit to her what he had finally just started beginning to admit to himself, it would make it real. And if it was real, then it would hurt that much more if he lost it. He loved her. He always had and always would. And if he really let himself see it, he knew that it went beyond friendship, which was maybe more terrifying than anything else.

He clutched her as tightly as she was holding him. Tears threatened his eyes, but he fought them. He couldn't cry. He didn't want to cry, not when he had brought this upon himself. "I'm sorry, Penelo. I'm so, so sorry."

She leaned back slightly on his lap and cupped his face with her hands. She pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead before wrapping her arms around him again. Vaan buried his face in her shoulder, feeling for the first time in months, that he really wasn't alone--and that maybe being here right now, holding Penelo, was where he was meant to be all along.


	10. Dance

**A/N: Thank you so much to Feeny, Drink. Juice, and IH8Abbrieviations for the reviews. :)**

**Don't ask where this one came from…I haven't a clue. Warnings for lots of fluffy mushiness. ;)**

**Yay! My tenth prompt! One-fifth of the way done. :D**

* * *

_**Prompt #17 - Dance**_

The inn was like any of a hundred that Vaan had seen in his twenty-one years of life--especially in the four years since leaving Rabanastre to travel around Ivalice. At nighttime, it was dimly lit. Wooden tables covered with drinks or late night meals dotted the room, and chairs were occupied by footsore travelers or people just in for a drink. There were some quiet patrons, and some loud and boisterous--more often than not because they were drunk. On this particular night, in this inn, most everyone had fallen silent, watching the pretty, graceful woman dancing to the beat of the song being played by a traveling bard.

Vaan watched Penelo from a chair at one of the tables, picking at his meal as she spun and twirled. She had been itching to dance as soon as she stepped in and heard the music playing; he had seen it in the way she had held herself, like she was trying to contain her joy. So he hadn't been surprised when she had finally said, "I'm going to dance, okay?" and promptly set about to clearing some floor space. "Besides," she added, "that poor man is playing beautiful music, and he should have some accompaniment, shouldn't he?"

Which was her way of realizing that no one was paying attention to the musician, which meant he wasn't making any gil, and she knew that if she joined him, she would make gil, which could be split between both of them. She was nice like that. Sometimes a little too nice, he thought.

Vaan didn't begrudge Penelo her dancing; it was part of who she was, and always had been. And while he had gone through phases of jealousy when she danced for some _particular _people, he knew she would dance when she wanted to, or because she needed to, and that was something he couldn't take away from her. Just like he knew, right now, she was dancing because she was tired. It had been a long couple of days, and this would lift her spirits. It always did. Which wasn't to say the stares and whispers from men who watched her didn't bother him. Of course they bothered him, but Penelo didn't dance for _them_, and he knew that, so it was okay.

It was _usually _okay. Tonight, for some reason--perhaps because he, too, was tired and had also had a long couple of days--the stares and whispers bothered him more than they normally did. The gawking of some men who were either too drunk to notice the wedding band on her finger, or completely sober and who didn't _care _about the wedding band on her finger. As he half-watched Penelo and glowered at those who stared a little _too _much, he found his irritation growing. He was half-tempted to march up onto her dance floor and stop her, but he just knew the fight that would come from that, so he held his seat and clutched his cup tightly with one hand, his food now completely forgotten.

He couldn't sit still, however, when the man sitting at the table next to him leaned over to his companion and said, loudly enough for Vaan to catch every word, "Whoo-hoo, look at that body. Bet she's got some sweet moves in bed, too. I'd like to take a ride on--"

It was as far as he got before Vaan stood up and punched the guy in the face, knocking him out of his chair and into the next table. The music screeched to a halt, and Vaan didn't need to turn around to know that Penelo had stopped dancing. "That's my wife, you pervert," Vaan snapped angrily.

The man jumped up, aiming a punch at Vaan, who deftly dodged. They were quickly stopped when Penelo stepped between them. She held one of her staves up, though it was aimed away from Vaan. "Let's not fight now, boys," she said lightly, but he saw the glint of a threat in her eyes as she looked at the man he'd punched. The man glared at her, but didn't try to hit her.

"Penelo--" Vaan began.

One of the other patrons stared at them. "You're…Penelo?" His eyes widened when he glanced at Vaan. "Are you Vaan?"

Vaan and Penelo were known for a lot of things--their sky pirating, their connections with the rulers of Ivalice, and their defeat of various marks, among other things. At that moment, Vaan had never been happier for that notoriety.

"That's us," Penelo said. She grabbed Vaan's arm before he could say anything else, tugging him toward the stairs. No one tried to stop them; even the innkeeper simply watched them pass. As soon as they reached the room they had rented for the night, Penelo closed the door quietly and turned to him. "Vaan."

He glared at her, though his anger was not directed at her. "I'm not going to apologize. You didn't hear what he was saying."

"I'm not asking you to apologize," she said, stepping close to him and laying a hand on his chest. "Some people are always going to be crude, Vaan."

"I don't care. No one should--no one--" He glowered toward the door.

Penelo moved even closer and folded her arms around him. Without speaking, she pushed to her tiptoes and pressed her mouth softly against his. It wasn't enough for Vaan, who cupped the back of her head with one hand and pulled her closer, kissing her harder, while his other hand tugged on the ties lacing up her top as he maneuvered them toward the bed.

Vaan felt strangely aggressive while they made love, and even when they were finished and he lay holding her, his cheek resting on her shoulder, he didn't feel relaxed or at ease.

Penelo rested one arm around his neck, burying her hand in his hair. "Vaan," she whispered.

"Yeah?"

"You know that you have nothing to worry about. Nothing that anyone says is going to change _us._"

"Yeah." He shifted onto his elbow, causing her arm to slide off his neck, and he propped himself up so he could see her face. They looked at each other for a long moment. "I just--I hate it," he said abruptly. "I hate other guys looking at you like that. Wanting you."

"I know," she said softly, stroking her fingers down his face. "Vaan…you know that I love you more than anything in the world. If my dancing hurts you--"

"No," he said abruptly. "No." He wouldn't take that from her. "It's not your fault they're like that."

"Still. I don't like the ogling, either, you know. I never have."

"I know."

"I just--I had to learn to ignore it because otherwise I wouldn't have wanted to dance at all."

"I know."

"But I don't want to hurt you," she whispered.

Vaan met her eyes squarely. "You don't. You should be able to dance wherever you want. You dance for _you_, not for anyone else, and I know that. Sometimes--it just gets the better of me. That's not your fault."

A slow smile spread across Penelo's face, and she scooted over so she could put both her arms back around him, pulling him down to her, where she kissed him again. "I don't always dance for _me._ Sometimes I dance for you." Then she smiled coyly. "Of course, my _private _dances are rather different then my public dances, but I don't think you'll object if I keep it that way."

Vaan wrapped both arms around her. "Nope, no objections here." He kissed her neck, then worked his way up her jaw, across her cheek, until he reached her mouth. "Just as long as you know that I reserve the right to punch the people who get out of hand."

Penelo's eyes sparkled at him. "I love it when you defend my honor."

"Good."

"I'm also kind of fond of the heated sex that comes afterward." She grinned wickedly at him, and that was when he finally felt the burning knot of anger in his stomach loosen and begin to fade. "Maybe I should make public dancing appearances more often."

He returned the grin and relaxed against her, his exhaustion finally catching up with him. He closed his eyes and listened to her breathing, and the last remnants of annoyance slipped away. So maybe he had to punch the lights out of a few guys now and then, but he had to remind himself that he'd also seen Penelo cast some pretty interesting spells on women who came onto him. But he was hers and she was his, and it had always been that way.

It would always be that way.


	11. Dress

**A/N: Thank you again SO MUCH to my lovely reviewers: Bookworm-Princess, Drink. Juice, IH8Abbreviations, Zero Sakura Cross, Destatikai, and Miss Famke. :)**

**Sorry this took a while; it's been a really long week anyway, and my muse slowed down a bit, which I expected would happen once I got the first set out of my system. Now maybe I can set a steady pace for these prompts.**

**Here's the next prompt…at first I was afraid it was going to be too similar to the last prompt, but here's hoping --crosses fingers-- that my writing is decent enough that they're unique.**

* * *

_**Prompt #36 - Dress**_

"C'mon, Penelo, we're gonna be late!" Vaan tugged on the collar of his shirt; it still felt weird to be wearing so much clothing, but he couldn't exactly go to Ashe's coronation ball wearing his normal clothes. Or so Penelo insisted. He didn't see why they had to go to the ball at all. Ashe had been crowned at a public coronation earlier that afternoon, and he'd attended that. What was the point of going to some fancy party if all the goods were off-limits?

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Penelo called through the bedroom door.

Vaan sighed and rolled his eyes. He really didn't understand how sometimes Penelo could take forever trying to get ready and other times she could just throw a bag together in five minutes and be ready for a week long adventure trekking through deserts or jungles. It made no sense at all.

He scratched at his neck. Were all collars so itchy? Shirts were fine, but he was swiftly discovering a dislike for shirts with collars. "Penelo!"

"Hang on! I'm just--_umph!"_

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine--I just can't--ugh!" The door opened and for a moment, all Vaan could do was stare. Penelo was wearing a very form-fitting, sparkly off-white dress, sprinkled with beaded designs and embroideries.

Penelo smiled at him. "You clean up nicely."

"Um, thanks?" Vaan continued to look at her, trying to get his attention off of the dress and the way it clung to her. He finally found something else to stare at. "What did you do to your hair?"

Penelo touched it self-consciously. "Does it look bad?" she asked nervously.

"No." It didn't, either. Half of it was curled down her back and the other half she had pinned up on her head.

Penelo tugged at the front of her dress. "I'm not very good at this yet, you know," she said anxiously. "Years on the streets haven't exactly--I can't--" She shook her head, flustered. "Never mind. Here, can you button this up for me? Whoever designed it was not thinking about the fact that no one could possibly do it alone." She turned her back to him and swept her hair over her shoulder.

Vaan raised his eyebrows when he saw the buttons that ran all the way up her back were unfastened. "Um--okay." He hesitated before reaching for the dress, his eyes stuck on her bare back and the curve of her hips. What was wrong with him? This was _Penelo_, and it wasn't as though he hadn't seen her back or the curve of her hips before.

Fumbling, he tried to get the first button at the bottom fastened, but the stupid things were so tiny he could barely see them, let alone get a grip on them. Trying to shove them through the itty-bitty holes was another matter _entirely._

He narrowed his eyes as he struggled with the first button. This was ridiculous! It was a piece of clothing--he wasn't going to let it win. "Ha!" he exclaimed as it finally went through. He eyed the next fifty or sixty buttons and sighed. This was going to take _forever._

"Vaan, hurry up! We have to go!"

"That's what I've been saying! I'm not the one who bought this thing." He wrestled with the second button. "This is not working!"

"What?"

"These buttons are tiny! I can't--get--them--" Vaan continued to fight with it and it snapped off the dress. "Um--oops?"

"_Oops?_ What's oops?" Penelo twisted and saw him standing there holding the button. Or maybe guessing he was holding the button, since he was sure it had to be too miniscule for her to actually see it. "Vaan!"

"What!? It's not my fault! Look, just throw something over the dress and we'll get Ashe to fasten it for you."

"I can't ask her to button up my dress in the middle of her coronation ball!"

"Who else can you ask? You'd need tiny fingers to do this!"

Penelo's face lit up. "That's perfect, Vaan! Come on!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the door.

Half an hour later they were on their way to the palace, Penelo's clothing having been properly and swiftly fastened by Filo's deft--and very small--fingers. At least, Filo had done it after exclaiming and oohing and aahing over Penelo's dress and hair and everything in between and Vaan had just wanted to start banging his head on the wall.

They were late when they finally reached the palace gates and gave the guards their invitation, but Vaan couldn't say he was disappointed, since all they had probably missed were the opening speeches.

As soon as they were inside the huge ballroom, Penelo's entire face lit up, and she stopped for a minute just to watch all the dancing going on. Vaan stepped around her to head for one of the many food-laden tables. He piled food--most of which was strange and unrecognizable--on a plate.

Penelo had found movement again and followed him. "Come dance with me."

"What?"

"Dance with me. Please?"

Vaan looked at the plate of his food in his hands, which was much more appealing than smushing himself into a crowd of dancers. "Uh--"

Penelo snatched the plate from him and set it on one of the tables. "Come on, it'll be fun." She grabbed his hand and pulled on him.

"Penelo," he complained, "just because _you _like dancing doesn't mean everyone else does, too."

Still holding his hand, Penelo turned toward him and dragged his other hand up to her shoulder. "Is dancing with me really so horrible?"

"I'm gonna step on your feet. I don't know this dance."

"That's okay. You'll figure it out."

"Penelo--"

He didn't have time to protest further because she had started dancing. Grimacing, he tried to find the steps and the pattern and wished he was just eating his food instead of treading on Penelo's toes. He was relieved that she seemed satisfied after only one dance. She released him and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you."

The night went by quickly, and when Vaan and Penelo finally left, she held his arm as they walked home. "That was nice. I'm glad I got to see Larsa again before he goes back to Archades."

Vaan made a noncommittal noise. Penelo had spent a good deal of time chatting animatedly with the young Emperor. Vaan didn't have anything against Larsa. He liked Larsa. He was a good kid. True, they hadn't exactly started off on the right foot; Vaan had been mad at him for a while because he'd taken Penelo away at the Lhusu Mines. Penelo, however, had managed to convince him that Larsa had kept them _all _safe by doing so, and he had grudgingly admitted that she was right.

Penelo poked his side. "Did you have fun?"

"I guess." He also hadn't particularly been fond of watching Penelo dance with other men.

They arrived at their small apartment, where Vaan kicked off his shoes and wrestled his way out of his collared shirt as Penelo disappeared into the bedroom and shut the door. Grateful to be out of his constricting collar, he flopped back on the couch and closed his eyes, only to open them again when Penelo said, "Um, Vaan?"

She was standing in front of him. "I'm having a bit of trouble again," she said. She turned and knelt on the ground in front of him. "I can't get this unbuttoned."

Vaan groaned. "Get Filo!"

"She'd be sleeping!"

"So would I, if you'd let me." Vaan glared at the evil tiny buttons. And the evil, pretty, sparkly dress that had been touched repeatedly by other men as they danced with Penelo that evening. And at Penelo, though she couldn't see it, because she had let them touch her. He grabbed the topmost button and attempted to undo it, maybe a little too forcefully, because it popped off and sailed through the air. He had no idea where it landed.

Sighing, he sank back onto the couch. "All I'm doing is breaking your dress, okay?"

Penelo turned so that she was facing him, still sitting on the floor. "What's got you so upset?"

"I'm not upset."

"Liar. I could feel you glaring holes in the back of my head."

"I don't like your dress."

Penelo's eyebrows lifted. "Okay…"

Irritated with her and with her dress and with everything else, Vaan grabbed her shoulders and turned her back around so he could deal with the stupid, stupid, pointless buttons. Why hadn't the designer just used a _zipper_? He grabbed the next button and forced it through the hole, but the third button fell off. As did the fourth one. Growing ever more frustrated, he gave an aggravated tug and about a dozen more buttons popped off and went flying in different directions. "Whoever made this thing did a _really bad job_," he snapped.

Penelo turned again, putting the buttons out of his reach, and took both of his hands in hers. "You're angry with me."

"I'm not."

"You are." Penelo moved one hand under his chin, bringing his face toward hers and meeting his eyes steadily. "Why are you angry with me, Vaan?"

"Even Larsa was staring at you."

Understanding flashed across Penelo's face, and her hand dropped from his face. "Larsa is thirteen, Vaan."

"He won't be forever."

Penelo leaned back, still holding one of his hands tightly. "So what? You think that one day I'm just going to go, hey, look how much Larsa grew up! Let me run off to him!"

Vaan yanked his hand away from hers, his heart racing. "There are other men, too. Men who like dancing and who aren't thieves and who could probably get you out of this stupid dress without ripping off all the buttons." The double meaning in that last bit made him more frustrated and angry than before. And scared. Very, very scared.

Penelo abruptly stood up, and for half a second, Vaan thought she was going to walk away. Instead, she sat on his lap and wrapped her arms fiercely around his neck, choking him worse than the collar had. Then she leaned back and smacked him on the back of the head, and he saw there were tears in her eyes. "You are such an idiot, Vaan." She looked at him for a moment longer, and then clung to him again. "I don't want emperors or men who like dancing or anything like that. I'm not in love with _them. _I'm in love with the sneaky, thieving boy who used to dump mud in my hair and who dances with me even though he hates it and who loves me whether I'm covered in dirt and slime or wearing a dress to a party."

Vaan's arms went back around her. "I--" He choked on his words and tightened his grip on her, burying his face in her hair.

Penelo stroked one hand up and down his bare back. "I know."

He wasn't sure how long they sat there. It was long enough that Penelo's hand slowed on his back as she began to drift off to sleep. "Maybe your dress isn't so bad after all," he finally mumbled. "I'll finish getting it off in the morning…"

He again realized the double entendre, but Penelo was apparently close enough to sleep to really care much. She simply pressed her fingers harder into his back and grumbled, "Nice, Vaan." Then she kissed the crook of his neck and tightened her arms around him. "Good night."

"Night, Penelo."

:--:--:

In the morning, Tomaj came knocking on their door, and when he saw their rumpled appearances, Vaan's bare chest, and Penelo's wrinkled dress with a good deal of the buttons ripped off, he burst into laughter. "Well," he said, "I was wondering when you two would finally get around to it. Guess it was really some party, huh?"

Vaan and Penelo exchanged resigned glances, knowing that they would never, ever live this one down.


	12. Family

**A/N: --showers thank you's and chocolates and flowers on Feeny, Destatikai, Mimi, and Drink. Juice for reviewing--**

**Can I just say that coming up with fifty prompts without being terribly redundant is **_**difficult,**_** and I'm only on prompt twelve… --head desk-- **

**Okay, this prompt is more "Vaan and Penelo and their multitude of orphans." Am I the only one who wonders about the orphans in Rabanastre? There are so many of them that know and seem to love Vaan and Penelo, aside from Filo and Kytes. It's fun (at least I find it fun) running around Rabanastre at different points in the game and listening to all the things the little orphans who know them say. And then in Revenant Wings when Filo and Kytes talk about how Vaan and Penelo are kind of like the parents…yeah, it got me thinking.**

_**

* * *

**__****_

Prompt #50 - Family

"Is this one okay?"

Penelo turned to see Filo holding up a small melon, and she held out her hand, taking it from the younger girl. "Yes. See, if you tap it with your knuckles and it sounds hollow, it's ripe." Smiling, Penelo placed it in the basket on her hip and continued to pick through the fruit at the bazaar. Fresh food could be expensive and it got eaten very quickly, but she made sure that they had fresh fruits and vegetables to eat at least once a week.

Penelo looked at Filo, carefully picking through the fruit, and smiled at the expression of concentration on Filo's face.

It had been six months since Vaan and Penelo had been forced into Lowtown with everyone else who didn't have the insane amount of gil required to live on the surface of the city. Even after all that time, Penelo was still not used to the stifling walls and low ceilings of the undercity, which offered no sunlight. She and Vaan had just been lucky enough to snag a room to sleep in, right across from Migelo's storehouse.

After moving to Lowtown, the amount of orphans created by the plague and the war became more evident. Penelo found herself staring around at the small faces and wondering how long some of these kids had been living down there. She and Vaan were pretty much the oldest orphans around. Most of the others their age had left to find work elsewhere, since there were very few jobs to be found in Rabanastre. Penelo knew a few girls near her age who had chosen to marry the first wealthy man who would take them as a way out of the slums. There were a handful who had chosen to go to any lengths to live more comfortably--even if it meant selling their own bodies.

Penelo clearly remembered the first time she had been approached by a man who had offered gil in exchange for her services. It had been just after she'd danced for a crowd to get some extra gil. She had been fourteen. Reks had not yet gone off to war, and he'd stepped in as soon as he heard the man's offer. "Stepping in" meaning "punching the guy in the face and threatening to cut off his body parts if he ever so much as talked to Penelo again." Reks had then taken Penelo home, and when they got there, flatly told her, "You will not ever sell your body for gil, do you understand?"

Penelo had smiled at him and said, "I wouldn't have anyway, Reks."

"Penelo." His hand on her shoulder stopped her as she turned to go into the house. "People get desperate. You never know what's going to happen, what circumstances you're going to find yourself in. I want you to promise me that whatever happens, you will find another way to get by. Promise me that you won't ever prostitute yourself."

"I promise, Reks."

A year later, Reks was gone and she was on the streets, but her promise to him remained, and even if she had not promised him, she wouldn't have chosen that path. She could understand, a little, why some girls might do that. She was fortunate that she had Vaan, fortunate that she had Migelo, fortunate she had people who understood why she cried the first time she had seen a girl she knew selling herself on the street.

It wasn't long after she and Vaan moved to Lowtown that the first orphan child attached himself to them. To Vaan, more specifically. Kytes thought that Vaan was just everything amazing and admirable, and one morning Penelo stepped out of their tiny room to head to Migelo's for work and almost tripped over the boy. She stared at him for a moment, realizing he must have slept on their doorstep all night.

Kytes was back again the next night, this time with a little boy he called Fussbudget. By the time the third orphan, a raucous, teasing boy named Bucco, started coming around, Vaan and Penelo had blankets spread all over their tiny room, a safe place that these boys could sleep if they wanted to. Sometimes they would crash there, and sometimes they would sleep wherever else they wanted to, but Penelo always felt better knowing they at least had somewhere relatively safe and comfortable to rest. She found herself watching them closely whenever she had the opportunity, trying to keep them out of trouble, lecturing them as her own mother had lectured her and her brothers growing up. She cut their hair and mended holes in their clothes, and when Bucco sliced his foot on something sharp, she healed it and then spent a few of her precious gil on a pair of shoes for him.

The next child to join their group arrived in Vaan's arms, in desperate need of healing. Vaan was furious and almost incapable of coherent speech when he shoved through the door late one night, yelling Penelo's name and waking her from a half-sleep. When she saw the figure in Vaan's arms, she wasn't sure at the time if it was a boy or a girl; she just saw a child with a bruised, bloodied face.

Vaan's shouts had awakened Kytes, the only one who had opted to sleep inside that night, and he came crawling over to see what was going on as Vaan placed the child on Bucco's empty blanket.

"What happened?" Penelo whispered. It was a little girl, she finally saw. There was blood on the child's shirt, and she lifted it up to see more bruises on her stomach.

"Some drunks--they were kicking her and hitting her--"

"She might have broken ribs or something, Vaan! I don't know if my Cure spells will be enough!"

Kytes leaned over the girl, his eyes wide. "You've gotta try, Penelo!"

"Of course I'll try, Kytes. Now do me a favor, Vaan, and go get me some water."

"Sure."

Penelo spent half the night casting Cure after Cure, healing the girl little by little until her bruises and cuts were gone, and she hoped that if anything _had _been broken, it was healed. She wasn't an expert at this; she'd had little practice with magicks. Kytes tried to stay up, but finally fell asleep near the girl's head.

Vaan stayed up with Penelo the entire time. When she finished curing the girl, she sat next to him and leaned against his shoulder, exhausted.

"I hate this place," he whispered fiercely. "There are too many kids without family, without any protection…"

"I know."

"The kids who stick together do okay; they can watch out for each other."

"I haven't seen her around." Penelo nodded at the little girl. "She must have just moved down here."

"Nice welcome," Vaan said sarcastically.

The little girl, they found out when she woke the next morning, terrified and disoriented, was named Filo. She immediately became a permanent fixture in their lives, and in their room at night.

Within the space of four months, three more boys and two more girls had joined the growing number of orphans that Vaan and Penelo were watching over. While each of them prided themselves on being able to take care of themselves and each other, there was always a part of her that worried when one of them didn't show up for a day or two. And they always came to _her _if they ate something questionable (usually from the garbage) and got food poisoning, and she would take care of them even if she didn't get any sleep and showed up for work at Migelo's swaying on her feet. She knew that Vaan had taught Johm and Riby how to properly pickpocket, and though she couldn't say she was thrilled at that prospect, she knew that she and Vaan weren't getting enough gil to take care of _everyone, _and the kids were well aware of this. They all wanted to do something, all wanted to contribute.

"Penelo? Is this one good, too?" Filo's voice shook Penelo from her memories, and she blinked at the fruit in Filo's hands.

"Yes, that's just perfect," Penelo said, and Filo beamed and put it in the basket. "I think that's all we can get today, though, all right?"

"But I can help!" Filo dug into her pocket and pulled out a small handful of gil.

Penelo considered asking where Filo had gotten the gil, but decided not to ask. Every orphan had a way of coming up with coins now and again. She also knew better than to argue and tell Filo to save it for something she needed. "That's great, Filo. Thank you. Why don't you pick out a few more vegetables, then?"

After they had their food, Filo helped Penelo carry it back down to Lowtown, to the little room that was covered in blankets, a few rag dolls belonging to Myro, some scattered metal gadgets that Johm insisted was going to be an awesome invention, and a dirty shirt left on the ground by Layabout. Penelo rolled her eyes and kicked the shirt to the side before setting down the basket of food.

"I'm gonna go meet Kytes, okay?" Filo said. "We're going to Old Dalan's to hear a story."

"Okay."

No sooner had Filo run out the door than it opened again and Vaan came in, dropping a large package on the ground. He grabbed a piece of fruit from the basket and took a huge bite out of it before Penelo could say anything. "Guess what I've been doing," he said around his full mouth.

"Pickpocketing?" Penelo guessed, eyeing the package.

"Nope. I've been talking to Migelo. He says if we clear some space in the storehouse, we can use the floor space there for the kids at night, since only half of them can actually squeeze into here." Vaan finished the fruit in two more huge bites and picked up the package, tossing it to Penelo, who caught it. "He sent that for you. Just came in today. Late birthday present, he said."

"My birthday was eight months ago," Penelo said slowly.

Vaan shrugged. "I know. I think that was just an excuse so you wouldn't feel like you had to pay."

Penelo opened the package, and tears stung her eyes when she saw what was inside--a dozen folded children's shirts and pants and a few blankets. There was a note pinned to the top of the stack of cloth. _Take care of your family, Penelo._

She hugged the package to her as Vaan plopped down beside her. "Nice," he said. "Migelo's the best."

"Yes, he is." Penelo was quiet for a moment, running her hand over the new clothes. "Sometimes I wonder what's going to happen to them when they get older."

"The kids? Ah, they'll be fine," Vaan said.

"You don't know that. I don't know that. I mean, you and I are still learning how to survive in this place. I know they adapt and they can survive, but they're still…kids." She set the package down and sighed. "I wish they didn't have to live like this."

"I wish _we _didn't have to live like this," Vaan said pointedly. "But we won't always, Penelo. One day we'll get out of this place."

"I don't mind Rabanastre. At least…if it was the Rabanastre I used to know," Penelo said quietly.

"Yeah, well, it's not," Vaan replied, bitterness in his voice.

Penelo looked away, not speaking.

"I'm not saying something won't happen to the kids," Vaan said, more quietly. "I'm just saying that if they grow up here, they'll be fine because they've got us."

Penelo felt a smile tugging at her lips, but she looked over at Vaan and said dryly, "Yeah, teaching them how to steal and getting them to see who can spit the farthest."

Vaan clapped a hand on her shoulder and stood to his feet. "Exactly. They'll do great."

The door to the small room opened just then, and Fidget stumbled in, bleeding from her mouth, one of her eyes blackened and swollen. Penelo jumped to her feet. "What happened?"

Fidget squirmed as Penelo tilted her face to the side to get a better look. "I got into a fight."

"That's obvious," Penelo said. "Why?"

"Some kid down on the southern sprawl was calling Myro names."

Penelo frowned in concern. "Is Myro okay?"

"Yeah, she's fine. Kytes and Filo are with her; we're all gonna go to Old Dalan's in a minute. I'm fine, too, Penelo; I just came to get Myro her doll."

"You call this fine?"

Fidget smirked. "You should see the other kid."

Vaan grinned. "Nice." He and Fidget exchanged high fives, and Penelo groaned and rolled her eyes.

"I'm going to heal this. Stay still a minute." Penelo cast Cure on Fidget, made her clean the blood off her face, and then watched as she grabbed one of the rag dolls and took off out the door. She glared at Vaan, who was still grinning.

"What? See? I told you; they'll do great."

Penelo shook her head, and as she turned her attention to dividing up the food she and Filo had brought home, she had to admit that maybe Vaan had a point. Even in the short time these kids had been in their lives, she had watched them grow and become more and more able to take care of themselves--and each other. She didn't know where she would be in one year, or two, or five, but maybe just in knowing them at all, she and Vaan would have some influence on the choices they made. So that Filo, Fidget, and Myro knew that they could live without selling their bodies for a meal. So the boys would know how to be good men. She wasn't always sure that she and Vaan were exactly the best role models to teach these children anything, when they were still learning so much themselves. Still, she believed that they were in the kids' lives for a reason. She had to believe it, had to believe that everything she had suffered, everything they had all suffered, had some good to be found in it. Right now, they all needed each other…though there might come a day when the kids didn't need them at all.

"Vaan! Penelo! Are you home?" The door opened again and Johm burst into the room. "Bucco's stuck in the Waterway!"

"What do you mean, stuck in the Waterway?" Vaan asked.

"There's this big snake in there that's blocking the way out. It's _awesomely _huge, you gotta see it! Er, and maybe help move it so he can get out?"

That day when they weren't needed wasn't quite today, though. Shaking her head, Penelo looked sideways at Vaan and said, "This one's all yours."


	13. Couple

**A/N: Thank you to eolhcsullivan, Destatikai, Deus Misereatur, IH8Abbreviations, and Drink. Juice for reviewing!**

**Thank you to my dear, dear Sache8 for offering the suggestion for this prompt…it turned out a bit different than your original suggestion, but the heart of it is there. :D **

**This one is probably a bit odd, but I was in an odd mood today. ;) And as a random aside, I have Vaan saying "to who" in this prompt and I still cringe when I read it, but he just doesn't strike me as the type of person to be grammatically correct by yelling "to whom." ;)**

* * *

_**Prompt #44 - Couple**_

"Penelo!" Vaan followed her across the room, deftly ducking and weaving through the crowds of chatting guests, annoyed and baffled. "What's up with you?"

Penelo stopped mid-stride and shot him her own look of frustration. "If you need me to tell you, then you're missing the point entirely!" She whirled again, her dress twisting emphatically around her, and slipped around two women who shot Vaan a look like _he _had done something entirely wrong.

"What point?" Vaan exclaimed.

Penelo only shook her head and swiftly disappeared into a group of nobles. Vaan gritted his teeth and threw himself in the nearest chair. He drummed his fingers on the table and looked around. This was a _wedding; _weren't people supposed to be _happy _at weddings? What had he done to make Penelo so upset?

It wasn't like he had wanted to come anyway. So Al-Cid was getting married; it wasn't like Al-Cid was a close friend. But all the fancy nobles and royalty were in attendance and they had been _invited, _so Penelo had insisted they come.

He could see her now, standing a little way across the room, talking with Larsa. Talking and _smiling. _Great. That was just great. She could be happy with _Larsa _but she wouldn't even tell Vaan what he had done that was so horrible. And since when had Larsa gotten so tall anyway? It seemed like just the other day that he had been a head shorter than Penelo, and now he was much taller.

Vaan reminded himself that Larsa _was _seventeen, but that, for some reason, made him even grumpier. He folded his arms on the table and buried his face in them, then jumped, startled, when a hand clapped him on the shoulder. He straightened and found himself staring at an armored Basch. He blinked and asked the question that came to mind. "Where's your helmet?"

Basch was unfazed by the greeting. "The Rozarrians prefer not to have masks, judges' or otherwise, at their wedding."

"Oh." Vaan's eyes wandered back to Penelo and Larsa, and he slumped down in his chair. Basch didn't say anything; he simply stood there and looked between him and Penelo, and Vaan found himself blurting, "She's mad at me."

"So I noticed," Basch said dryly. "What, pray tell, did you do to earn her wrath this time?"

Vaan threw up his hands. "I don't know! She was fine this morning but then all of a sudden we got here and she stormed off our airship, and she won't even tell me what I did that's so bad. She thinks I should know!"

"Hmmm…" Basch raised one eyebrow. "Did you say anything to her on the way here?"

"I'm sure I did! I don't know what I would have said that would have put her in that state, though."

Basch muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, "That doesn't surprise me."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Vaan demanded. Without waiting for a reply, he plunged on. "Look, Basch, I didn't exactly want to come here. Weddings are stupid and boring."

"You said that to her?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, who really wants to go to a wedding?" Vaan leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms. "Glad I don't have to be _in _one; all that ceremony stuff is just--"

Basch cut him off. "And you don't know why she's so mad?" There was an ironic tone to his voice that Vaan couldn't help but catch.

"What? You do?"

Basch sighed. "Vaan, sometimes you astound me."

Vaan glowered at Basch. "Look, can you just tell me what's wrong so I can fix it? She's really hard to deal with when she's like this." He waved at her, irritated to discover that now she was laughing at something Larsa had said.

"I don't think she's as mad as she is hurt, Vaan."

"What?"

"Do you think," Basch said very patiently, "that your comments about weddings upset her because she, perhaps, wishes to have a wedding of her own?"

"_What?_" Vaan snapped up straight and stared over at Penelo. "She wants to get _married? _Have you been talking to her? Wait…have you been talking to _Larsa? _Is--" Vaan jumped to his feet and took off across the room, ignoring Basch when he called his name.

He shoved through several nobles, making straight for Penelo, and pushed in between her and Larsa.

"Vaan!" Penelo narrowed her eyes.

There was a strange panic fluttering around inside of him, panic and anger. "Penelo! What do you think you're doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm having a talk with a _friend, _if you don't mind! What are _you _doing?"

Larsa was looking between the two of them questioningly, and Vaan was further annoyed to realize that Larsa was actually taller than _he _was. "A friend? _Ha! _And _you--_" He jabbed a finger into Larsa's chest, and he noted Basch, ever the bodyguard, coming to a stop right beside his Emperor. "You can just forget about it!"

Larsa opened his mouth to speak, but Penelo beat him to it. "Forget about what?" she asked.

"Penelo!" Vaan's anger was being taken over increasingly by panic, but he still had to fight down the urge to shake her. "You can't marry him!" There was a sort of frantic whine to the end of his declaration that he didn't like.

He noted that silence had fallen in the immediate vicinity, and that many of the wedding guests were staring at them. As soon as he spoke, they started whispering to each other. Larsa's eyes widened and Penelo drained of all color. She grabbed Vaan's arm, managed an, "Excuse us," to Larsa, and dug her fingers into Vaan's arm, preparing to pull him away.

He shook her off. "Uh-uh. I'm not through talking to his _Emperorness_."

Penelo squeezed her eyes shut tightly and Basch let out a cough that sounded suspiciously like a laugh. "Vaan, _what are you talking about?_" she hissed in a low voice, opening her eyes and staring at him. "I'm not--" Her face then flamed, and she looked at Larsa like she just wanted to curl up and die of embarrassment.

Vaan couldn't tell what Larsa was thinking; he was wearing an impassive expression on his face, and he simply turned to Penelo. "I shall take my leave. Perhaps we can speak later?" With a backwards glance, he walked calmly away, and only Penelo grabbing Vaan's arm again prevented him from following the sneaky, conniving, Penelo-stealing Emperor. Who did he think he _was _anyway? So what if he was the ruler of Archadia? And rich? And spoke with fancy words and wore expensive clothes and was taller than Vaan? They were supposed to be _friends, _and if there was something--

"_What in the name of all that is holy do you think you're doing?" _Penelo's fingernails were digging painfully into his arm and she looked even more upset than she had earlier. "I'm _not _marrying Larsa! What would give you that idea? What would _possibly _make you even _think _I would--ugh!" She dropped his arm and hurried away.

Basch, still standing close by, had his face buried in one hand. He looked up at Vaan, shook his head, and said, "I have no words."

"What is going on?" Vaan asked.

"You had best go speak with Penelo, Vaan."

Now more confused than ever, Vaan followed Penelo. She didn't stop until she was standing outside on a small balcony, with only a few guests loitering about. She whirled on Vaan as soon as she saw him and hit him on the arm. "What were you _thinking?"_

"Basch said--"

"_What _did Basch say?"

"He said you were mad at me because you wanted to get married and you were happy talking to Larsa and--" The panic was back, now, and he grabbed her by the shoulders. "And you can't marry him! Why wouldn't you tell me something like this? Why wouldn't you tell me you lo-lo-"

Penelo seemed perfectly calm now, and she said, "Why wouldn't I tell you I loved him?"

Vaan wanted to plug his ears and _not _hear that. No, he wanted to go backwards in time so he could start this day over and tell Penelo no way were they going to this wedding, or anywhere near where Larsa was going to be ever again. He couldn't even begin to describe the despair and terror rising up inside him. There was a faint ringing in his ears and he seriously thought for a moment that he might throw up. "Penelo, you can't love him," he said in a very small voice, his hands still tight on her shoulders.

"Oh? And why not?"

"Because--because I love you. And you love me. And…you do. I know you do. You--I--we--please…" His voice was a whisper now. "You never told me--_why wouldn't you tell me? _It was the letters, wasn't it? All those letters! On paper _I bought you_!"

To his fury, Penelo burst out laughing. She doubled over, giggling so hard that there were tears in her eyes, and then he did shake her. "_This isn't funny!"_

"Oh, Vaan. Basch _was _right; I would, you know, maybe like to get married, but not to Larsa."

By now Vaan was feeling so upset and sick that he could only manage an angry, "Then _to who?"_

"To _you, _you idiot!"

There was a long, heavy silence as Vaan stared at her and everything clicked into place. All he could say was, "Oh." He felt an odd mixture of utter relief, elation, and a bit of embarrassment. "Um…oh. I guess--" He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "I guess maybe I should apologize to Larsa."

"And?"

"Um, and to you. I'm sorry, Penelo. I just--"

"_And?" _Penelo was still waiting expectantly, and Vaan stared at her for a moment before realizing what she was waiting for.

"Oh, oh, right. Penelo, do you wanna marry me? Oh, wait. I'm supposed to get down on my knees or something, aren't I? Or have a ring? Or--"

"Oh, Vaan, just shut up and kiss me, okay?"

When Vaan happily complied, Penelo hugged him tightly and said, "Yes, I want to marry you." She kissed him again and smiled at him, and then gave him another slap on the arm. "How could you think I'd marry anyone else? After all this time? After _everything--_you make me so mad sometimes."

"Well, if you had just _said _that's what you wanted in the first place--"

"Vaan, that wasn't--"

"--the point. Yeah, yeah, I know. Well, I think I've got the point now."

"Good." Penelo's smile widened and she brushed her thumb down his cheek. "I love you so much. I want to strangle you sometimes, but I love you."

It was funny, Vaan thought, how obvious something could be, how natural and _always there _that you didn't really give it much thought until it slapped you in the face. He had Penelo. He'd always had Penelo. He always would have Penelo. He'd only had to yell at an Emperor to realize it.

Hm. He probably needed to come up with a better way of figuring these things out.


	14. Bones

**A/N: Thank you to Drink. Juice for reviewing the last chapter. :)**

**This prompt, along with "Morgue," were two that I stared at when I took on this prompt table and wondered what I was going to do with them--but I have now done both. Woohoo. I know I just updated this story...like twelve hours ago, but I had this prompt half-written and finished it this morning so I figured I'd stick it up, too. **

* * *

_**Prompt #49 - Bones**_

Penelo hated Raithwall's Tomb before she even set foot in it. Getting there had been bad enough, what with days and days of trekking across sandseas with the locals casting all manner of spells at them. Trying to find places to camp hadn't always been easy, and until they got their hands on a map, they'd found themselves taking wrong turns, hitting the outskirts of the Zertinan Caverns, which was even worse.

By the time they actually arrived at the tomb and had to fight the flying monstrosity guarding the place, she was wondering if things were only going to get worse from there on out. She kept telling herself they just had to get into Raithwall's Tomb, get the Dawn Shard, and then Ashe would have what she needed. Then, of course, there was still Vayne and the matter of the Archadian troops in Dalmasca, but right now all Penelo could do was take things one step at a time.

As the injured party crawled up the steps of the tomb to touch the crystal at the top, desperate for revitalization, Penelo sighed in relief and promptly collapsed in front of the crystal, trembling. Part of her wanted nothing more than to curl up in a little ball and cry. She was tired and covered in sweat and some sort of fluids from that insane avian. She smelled and she had sand in her clothing. It was itchy and annoying, and she stared at the gate crystal in front of her, wanting nothing more than to use it to jump back to Rabanastre for even an hour, so she could get clean and changed.

Ashe, however, looked ready to plunge straight into the tomb without hesitation, at least until Basch said, "Milady, perhaps we should rest before we attempt to broach the tomb."

Ashe looked at Basch with narrowed eyes. "I am not in need of--" She stopped, her eyes trailing over the rest of the party, at Balthier, who was making a valiant effort to stand straight and not quite succeeding, at Vaan, who was stretched out on his stomach on the topmost stair, eyes closed and very likely already asleep, and at Penelo, who tried not to look like a pathetic, desperate waif, knowing she probably failed miserably. Fran was the only one who managed to look unaffected. Finally, Ashe nodded slowly. "Very well. We shall rest for today and enter the tomb first thing on the morrow."

Penelo sighed in relief and happily trudged back down the stairs to make camp at the bottom. The first thing she did was cast a very mild water spell right above her head so that it all came crashing down on her, soaking her hair and washing the slime and sweat off of her clothes and body. Then she climbed into her little tent and completely stripped so she could dry off and wipe off the sand and remnants of bird bits that she may have missed with the water.

Happy because she was much cleaner and no longer smelled, she laid her clothes on the ground to dry, wrapped herself in a blanket and spread out flat on her stomach.

She was out cold before she even realized her eyes were closed. She wasn't even sure how long she slept, but she jolted awake because there was some kind of screeching in the distance. Night had set in; it was completely dark in the tent. Her first, disoriented thought was that the noise was one of the Urutan-Yensa, but it didn't sound right. She laid very still, her ear pressed to the ground because she was still on her stomach, and chills ran up her spine when she realized the noise was coming from under her.

Swallowing, she pushed herself up and looked around the tent, straining to see in the blackness. Quietly, Penelo felt for her clothes and found them dry. She tugged them on and crawled out of the tent. It was dark except for the starlight from above, and she gasped and almost screamed when she bumped into someone sitting right next to the tent. When she saw it was Vaan, she smacked his shoulder and hissed, "Are you trying to scare me to death?"

She glanced around; everyone looked to be in tents, except for Fran, who was standing at the bottom of the stairs leading up to Raithwall's Tomb, her head cocked to the side as if she was listening to something.

"Vaan?" Penelo settled next to him and touched his shoulder.

He glanced at her. "There's something screaming under the ground." He nodded over at Fran. "She says it's coming from the tomb."

"I heard it." Penelo shivered and looked sideways at Vaan. "Are you scared?"

"Pff. Me?"

Penelo laced her fingers through his. "I'm scared, too."

Vaan's fingers tightened on hers. "Things in tombs are supposed to be dead."

"They probably are."

"Thanks, Penelo," Vaan said sarcastically. "That helps a lot."

She felt a shiver run through his body, and she shuddered herself. She leaned into Vaan, and they were both silent for a few minutes, until Penelo whispered, "I kind of don't want to go in there."

"You don't have to," Vaan said quickly, as if he had been waiting for just this opportunity to say something. "You could--"

"I'm not going back to Rabanastre, Vaan," Penelo cut him off. "I'm not leaving you."

Vaan's shoulders slumped. "I knew you'd say that."

Penelo felt a pang of hurt, though she knew that Vaan wasn't trying to get rid of her because he didn't want her there. He was just scared and didn't want anything to happen to her. "We'll be okay if we stick together, don't you think?"

Vaan nodded slowly. "I guess."

Penelo nudged him. "We _will_. Now come on. We should try to get some sleep." She turned to go back into her tent, tugging on his hand. He followed her without a word and curled up facing her, their hands clasped in between them. They finally fell asleep despite the occasional wails and moans coming from beneath them, and Penelo's last thought before she slipped into slumber was that she could face anything as long as Vaan was beside her.

:--:--:

The next morning, they entered Raithwall's Tomb, and the first thing they ran into was some crazy wall with huge spider-like legs. They ran from that one only to be faced with a second one. Penelo wasn't fond of bugs, particularly large ones, and this thing not only had those horrible, wiggling legs chasing her, but it also cast spell after spell at the party.

It cast a spell that she had never seen before, and had no idea what it was, but one second, Vaan was standing next to her, fighting the giant monstrosity, and the next second he was gone.

Just disappeared.

She had never been more panicked in her entire life. She stood there like a frozen idiot, screaming his name, and even when Basch shook her shoulder and told her to keep fighting, even when she resumed whacking away at the stupid, evil wall, tears blinded her eyes and she could hardly see what she was doing.

When Vaan finally reappeared, dazed and having no memory of where he had been, she threw herself on him and sobbed so hard she dragged them both to the floor of Raithwall's Tomb, while the others watched sympathetically or averted their eyes.

It was the only time on the long, hard journey that she was seriously tempted to really return to Rabanastre and just _stay _there, but she didn't, because she knew that Vaan would not go with her. She wouldn't leave him. Not now, not ever.

They looked at each other for a moment, and then Penelo wiped her eyes and Vaan helped her to her feet. She was terrified, though; she was always terrified. She didn't want to do this without him. Not just the tomb; she didn't want to try to get through each day in her life without him.

She vaguely wondered if she had said something like that out loud, because she heard Vaan whisper beside her, "Me, neither." He took her hand and squeezed it briefly. She gripped his hand back, and then they took a deep breath and plunged onward.

Just like they always did.


	15. Learn

**A/N: Thanks so, so, so much to my reviewers: Feeny, eolhcsullvian, IH8Abbreviations, Drink. Juice, and Destatikai.**

**When I wrote the "morgue" prompt about Vaan and Penelo's families, I didn't talk about Penelo's brothers much, because I wanted to be able to have more than a passing mention of them…which is what this prompt is. It's more Penelo-centric than Penelo/Vaan, but with fifty prompts, I didn't expect them all to be that way.**

* * *

_**Prompt #22 - Learn**_

This was not as easy as it looked. Penelo's brother Thais, eight years older than her, had told her it wouldn't be easy, but Penelo had blinked up at him with wide blue eyes and said, "I can do it!"

Her other brother, Idin, two years older than Thais, had grinned and said, "Guess we'd better teach her then, hm, Thais?"

Thais had crouched down in front of her and said, "Okay, but it has to be a secret. No telling Mom and Dad." In an undertone, he'd muttered, "Because they would skin us and hang us up on display in the middle of the city if they ever got wind of this."

Penelo had pressed her fingers across her lips, then moved them so she could whisper, "I promise. I'm good at keeping secrets, Thais!"

And that was how she had found herself standing with her brothers outside the city walls. Idin pinned a target to a lone tree, stood Penelo a short distance from it, and carefully handed her a small dagger. His large hand encircled her hand and the dagger, holding it steady. "You have to understand that weapons are never to be used lightly. They can hurt and kill either you or someone else, so you have to be very, very careful."

"I know, Idin," Penelo told him solemnly. She didn't want to hurt or kill _anyone;_ she only wanted to be able to throw daggers just like her brothers. It looked _really _neat when they did it, like part of a dance. "I'll be very careful."

"Now, Pen, when you're _older _and you have boys bothering you, then you don't have to be so careful," Thais added.

Penelo frowned a little at him, not entirely sure what boys and being older had to do with not being careful with blades.

"Ready?" Idin asked.

She nodded, and as soon as Idin let go of her hand, she almost dropped the dagger. It was heavy and awkward, not meant to be handled by seven-year-old hands. She had watched her brothers throwing daggers many times, and they had always made it look so smooth, so easy.

"Here, like this." Idin lifted her hand up, readjusting her small fingers on the hilt. "Then your wrist moves this way--" He poked her wrist to get it to bend "--and let go."

Penelo opened her fingers, and the dagger went forward two feet and flopped down on the sand, somehow with the blade sticking straight up in the air. "Oh, no!"

Both of her brothers started laughing. "No one expected you to get it on the first try," Thais said.

Penelo frowned intently at the dagger as Thais picked it up and planted it firmly back in her palm. "It's all in the wrist movement." He bent her wrist as Idin had moments earlier. He kept hold of her hand and went through the movement with her, slowly and carefully. "Your elbow position is important, too. Feel that motion? That's what it has to feel like every time."

"I can do it," Penelo told him firmly. "Watch this." Squinting and gritting her teeth, she bent her wrist back and flung the dagger forward. This time it went a little farther before hitting the sand, but it also went sideways. "Oh, _no!_"

"Don't worry, Penelo. You'll get it in time," Idin assured her.

"I don't want to get it in time! I want to get it now, before you have to leave!" Penelo sat down on the sand, her lip trembling. "I want you to see that I can do it!"

She saw her brothers exchange glances, and then they both came to sit on either side of her, towering over her and shading her from the bright sun. "You know that joining the Order doesn't mean we're never going to see you, don't you, Pen?" Idin asked, tugging on her pigtails.

Penelo crossed her arms and frowned at the ground. "Yes, it will. Aeri's brother went to join the Knights _forever _ago and he hasn't come back even _once._" Her lip trembled. "And you're _both _going and you're not going to be in our house anymore and you always do everything together but everyone always says I'm too little so I can't ever do the same things you do and--" She started crying and she flung herself on Idin. "I don't want you to go, I don't want you to go!"

Idin stood up, lifting Penelo with him, and hugged her tightly before tossing her up in the air and catching her. It was really hard to keep crying when she was flying through the air, and she smiled reluctantly when she landed in his arms again. He wiped her tears, then said, "Catch, Thais." He tossed Penelo over to Thais, who grabbed her and swung her around in circles until she was so dizzy she couldn't see straight, and then they both fell down on the sand in a heap. By that time, Penelo was giggling, and she shrieked when Thais started tickling her.

"You can't get rid of us that easily, Penelo. Sorry. You're stuck with us for all time," Thais said, continuing to tickle her while she laughed and tried to squirm away. "And in the meantime, you'll get the hang of this before we leave, okay? We'll make sure of it."

"Yeah, no trying this on your own," Idin agreed, picking up the fallen dagger again. "We'll work with you when we visit, but until _we _say you're ready, hands off the daggers. Got it?"

"Got it."

"Good. Ready to try again?"

"Okay." Penelo rolled to her feet, took the dagger carefully from Idin, and concentrated hard on getting the wrist and elbow to feel the way it had before. Then she gritted her teeth and threw it. She was still way off the target, but her brothers continued to encourage her and cheer her on for quite a while longer, until Idin said, "I think that's enough for today," and tucked the dagger into a sheath.

"But I'm getting better already!" Penelo protested.

"You sure are. You'll be an expert in no time!" Idin swung her up onto his shoulders.

There was a moment of silence as they walked toward the city gate, and then Penelo spoke in a small voice. "Idin?"

"What's up, Penelo?"

"Will you and Thais really come back?"

Thais leaned over and tugged on her leg. "We will, Penelo. Promise." He held up his fingers in a gesture of honor.

Penelo beamed at him, then wrapped her arms around Idin's head. "Okay." She smiled, content to be with her two big brothers, her own shining knights. She really did believe they would come back. They had never lied to her before. She just kind of wished that they could stay _her _knights and not have to be everyone else's, too. Still, she supposed she could share them for a while.

They_ would_ come back.

They had promised.

:--:--:

_Thunk. Thunk. Thunk._

The daggers embedded themselves in the tree, one after the other, smooth and steady. Penelo threw every single blade she had and then dropped to her knees on the sand, staring at the perfect line of daggers with blurred vision. Tears dripped from her chin onto the ground, and she clenched her hands into fists.

Penelo at seven had been stupid. No, perhaps not stupid, but naïve. She had been a child who knew nothing of war and death, and so believing her brothers' promises had been easy. And they had kept their promise for a while. They had come back for visits, and they had continued to teach her, and at age eleven they had finally presented her with her own set of daggers.

Penelo blinked rapidly, swiping at her wet face. All the illusions she'd had at seven had disappeared with all the death and pain she had suffered. She knew now that no one could ever really promise to come back and keep their word. People left, and there wasn't anything anyone could do about it. At least when Reks had left for war, he hadn't promised to come back. He had said he would see them again, said he wouldn't be gone too long, but he had never said _promise. _Maybe he had meant it that way, but maybe he had just known better than to make such promises.

There were footsteps crossing the sand toward her, but she didn't turn around. She knew who it was even before Vaan dropped down beside her. He didn't say anything; he simply sat there with her.

More tears slipped down Penelo's face. She couldn't believe it had already been two years. Two years since word of her brothers' deaths, and the deaths of many other good men, had reached the city. Two years seemed so far away, and yet it still ached so fiercely.

Penelo wasn't sure how long they both sat there, but eventually she found herself whispering, "Sometimes I can't picture their faces."

Vaan's fingers found hers and he clasped her hand tightly. He still didn't speak, and he didn't need to; she knew that he understood.

Taking a deep breath, she released Vaan's hand and stood, walking over to the tree and slowly pulling each dagger out. She carefully sheathed them, turning toward Vaan, who was now standing and waiting for her. Together, they walked silently back toward the city. When they reached the gate, Penelo exchanged glances with Vaan, and he offered her a brief, sad smile. She didn't have the energy to return it, but she knew he wasn't expecting her to. No one knew the painful lessons she had learned better than Vaan. Before entering the city, she wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly for a minute. Then she kissed his cheek and ran into Rabanastre.

She came to a halt near Migelo's and leaned against the wall. An echo of her brothers' laughter rang through her mind, a flash of smiles and the sound of teasing voices. For just a brief moment, she could see their faces so clearly, before it faded and it all became a blur again. They were gone and she was left behind, again, with only her memories and a set of daggers to remind her of them.

More tears fell as Penelo heard the sound of her own voice whispering, though there was no one there to hear.

"I miss you."


	16. Chance

**A/N: Thanks so very much to my reviewers: Bookworm-Princess, Thalia's Muse, eolhcsullivan, IH8Abbreviations, Destatikai, Drink. Juice, SmilesAreForManiacs, and Deus Misereatur. You guys are so fantastic. :D :D **

* * *

_**Prompt #38 - Chance**_

There were two long rows of trees growing along each side of the road leading into a small town in northern Archadia. Their branches hung over the road, providing a canopy for those walking beneath them, and they had completely captured Penelo's attention. Vaan stood watching with his eyebrows raised as she spun in slow circles, her face tilted upward, a wondering smile on her face.

"Uh, Penelo?"

"Mm?" She didn't even look at him. "Vaan, isn't this amazing?"

"It's…trees."

Penelo stopped her twirling and walked over to him. "They're not just trees."

"They kind of are."

"Okay, well, they are, but aren't they beautiful?" She turned her face up again and stared. "So many colors. I've never seen anything like it." A leaf, red and gold, fell from one of the branches and she reached out and caught it. "Larsa told me how the trees all change before winter up here, but I never imagined..." She swept her arms out, as if she were trying to embrace every last tree. "Let's make a pile of leaves!"

"Huh?" Vaan stared at Penelo, wondering if she had completely lost her mind.

"Larsa said when he was little--"

"--he's still little."

"Shush." Penelo waved a hand at him. "He would go to his family's estate in northern Archadia--"

"We're in northern Archadia."

"I know! Stop interrupting! And in the autumn he would make piles of leaves and jump into them."

"Why?"

"Maybe it was fun."

Vaan tried to imagine Larsa shoving leaves into a pile and jumping into them, and had a hard time picturing a time when Larsa hadn't been so straight-laced and serious. "Ummm…okay…" he said slowly, not quite sure where he saw the _fun _in jumping into piles of crunchy leaves.

"Come on, it's the chance of a lifetime!"

"A lifetime?"

"Well, we've gone nineteen years without doing this, so yes, that would be a lifetime." Penelo dropped to her knees and began enthusiastically pushing the layers of fallen leaves into one huge mound, and he couldn't help but grin at the expression on her face. Shrugging, he dropped down beside her to help.

By the time Penelo declared they had enough leaves, the pile was almost as high as her chin. Beaming, she gazed at it as if it were the most gorgeous piece of art she had ever seen, and then promptly dived headfirst into it. Half her body disappeared into the leaves, and the rest was covered when the stack of foliage tumbled down onto her. She bounced out of it a moment later, leaves sticking out of her clothing and hair, dirt smudged on her face. "Your turn," she proclaimed, eyes sparkling.

Vaan eyed the pile for a moment, then stepped back and got a running start, jumping and twisting so that he landed on his back in the leaves, which slid around his head, smelling strongly of damp earth. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. "Hey, Penelo--" He spat out a leaf that tried to get into his mouth. "--this isn't so bad."

"See, I told you."

Vaan opened his eyes to see Penelo leaning over him, a happy smile on her face. He sat up and took the hand she offered him, but used it to tug her down into him. She fell forward with an "oomph!", landing half on him and half in the leaves.

"Hey!"

"You're the one who wanted to play in the leaves," Vaan said, scooping up a handful and dropping them on her face.

"Oh, you're asking for it." Penelo grabbed more leaves and shoved them into the back of his vest.

They itched like crazy, but he ignored it and grabbed Penelo, twisting them both so she was on her back in the leaves and he was over her. He put an arm across her stomach to keep her pinned there, and then pushed the leaves on top of her, completely burying her. "Ha! I win."

She blew the leaves off of her face and hooked her arm around his neck, pulling him down face-first next to her, giving the back of his head an extra shove into the leaves for good measure. "I don't think so," she whispered in his ear.

Vaan turned his head toward her to find her looking back at him mischievously. He brought his face closer to hers, moving his arm from his stomach to her back--where he then shoved a handful of leaves into the straps holding her dancing top in place. Before she could do more than squeal and say, "That itches, get it--" he had effectively silenced her with his mouth.

She squirmed for a moment--undoubtedly because of the leaves stuck against her back--but then relaxed and kissed him back. He pulled back, smirked at her triumphantly, and said, "I _always _win." _In more ways than one. _

A fiery look sparked in her eyes. "We'll just see about that."

A short time later, they stumbled into town, covered in bits of leaves and dirt and generally looking as though they had been attacked by the trees on the road, bringing stares from the Archadian townsfolk. Vaan ignored the wide-eyed expressions and grinned at Penelo's flushed, happy face. "You were right. That was fun."

"See? I'm always right."

"I still won."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Did not."

Vaan opened the door for the supply store, fighting back a laugh when he saw that Penelo had somehow ended up with leaves sticking out the top of her pants. He waited until she was inside before saying under his breath, "Did too."


	17. Fade

**A/N: Thank you again to my reviewers; I really can't tell you happy your reviews make me: Anironcuil, eolhcsullivan, Lord Mayo, and Drink. Juice.**

* * *

_**Prompt #30 - Fade**_

Vaan clasped his hands tightly together, his body tensing as Penelo started coughing. She shifted in bed, facing him, her eyes shut in an uncomfortable sleep. The cloth on her forehead fell off and an expression of discomfort twisted her face.

He silently picked up the cloth and dunked it into the bowl of water beside the bed. He squeezed it out and carefully spread it back on her forehead, his much cooler fingers brushing against her burning skin. She shivered and hunched under the blanket, and he wondered how she could possibly be cold when her skin was so _hot._

Clenching his teeth, he leaned back in his chair and continued to watch her, battling with his fear. The deeply-rooted, heart-wrenching terror that always came whenever Penelo got sick. She had told him she was okay, that it was just a passing illness, but it hadn't stopped her from feeling worse and worse, until all she could do was lie in bed with chills and a fever. He had been sitting with her all day, only moving to get water for her to drink or to use to soak cloths for her head. She had tried to stand up once and gotten so dizzy she'd collapsed.

He told himself over and over that it was just a virus, that it would be gone in a day or two, that she would be back to normal and life would go on, but it didn't stop him from being scared. It dragged up memories of watching his parents get sick and slowly waste away as the plague drained them of their life. He had watched them fade into shadows of themselves until they were completely gone, and he was terrified of that ever happening to Penelo.

He flipped the cloth on her forehead over, and this time, Penelo's eyes opened. She stared at him with glazed eyes for a moment, as if trying to figure out where she was and what was happening. "Water?" she finally managed in a whisper, reaching for the cup beside her, but even that was too much. Her arm fell flat on the blanket almost as soon as she lifted it and she started coughing.

Vaan moved to sit on the edge of the bed and waited until she was finished coughing before putting an arm around her to prop her up. He gave her the cup, holding her hands steady so she could drink it without dropping it. When she was finished, he set the cup down again and she sagged against him, her head lilting sideways against his chest. He could feel the heat from her cheek through his vest. Swallowing another surge of fear, Vaan laid Penelo back down on her pillow and sat in his chair, folding his hands together and feeling completely lost.

Penelo blinked at him a few times, and a small frown appeared on her face. "You look tired," she said, still unable to speak more than a raspy whisper. "You should sleep."

"You're not better yet."

The frown deepened, and her hand moved slowly toward him. She held it out for just a moment before she again lost strength and her arm dropped back onto the bed. He didn't want to see that. He hated to see her so weak that she couldn't even hold up her hand, because he couldn't do anything to fix it.

"Vaan--" Penelo broke into another coughing fit, and Vaan took her hand and grasped it tightly, loosening his grip only when her body relaxed again. "You need rest, too," she murmured.

"I can't." He let go of her hand so he could dunk the cloth on her forehead back into the water. He could tell that she was straining to keep her eyes open. "Go back to sleep," he said, spreading the cloth back on her head.

She blinked at him again, then gave a tiny nod. He knew, even if she didn't say it, that she understood. "I'll get better," she assured him for the hundredth time.

"I know," Vaan said, even though he really didn't. He could tell himself she'd be okay as often as he wanted, but until he saw it, he couldn't completely convince himself. She knew that, and understood his fear. She had to realize that he wouldn't sleep. That he _couldn't_ sleep while she did, because he had to watch her, had to know that she wouldn't fade away--had to know that she would wake up again.

So when her fever broke in the middle of the night, he was awake to feel her hot skin cooling. When her breathing grew less shallow and settled into something normal and steady, he himself breathed easier. When she woke up in the morning and saw him sitting next to her, red-eyed and completely exhausted, she offered him a drained, but genuine, smile. "Hi."

"Hey." Vaan leaned forward and took her hand between both of his. "How're you feeling?"

"Better. A little achy, but my chills are gone." She turned her head and coughed into her shoulder, but even her cough sounded less harsh and raspy.

"So is your fever."

"You don't look so well, though. Are you catching my fever?" She lifted her hand to touch his face--she actually had the strength to lift her hand, and he knew for sure then that she was really going to be okay.

The horrible knot inside of him unclenched completely, and he offered her a tired smile in return. "Just kind of tired."

"I know." Her fingers trailed down his face. "You really should rest now."

Vaan hesitated a moment before moving to sit next to her on the bed, but as soon as he leaned back on the pillows, his eyes suddenly felt as though they had weights on them, dragging them closed. He fought to keep them open. "Wake me if you need anything?"

"I will." Penelo settled onto the pillow next to him and curled up against him. He felt her warm breath on his shoulder, slow and steady, reassurance that she was still real and solid and that she wasn't going anywhere.

The last thing he heard before sleep overtook him was her voice whispering, "Sleep well, Vaan."


	18. Defy

**A/N: Thank you so much to my reviewers: Drink. Juice, Deus Misereatur, Lord Mayo, eolhcsullivan, Feeny, and SmilesAreForManiacs.**

**Sorry this took me so long; my city was hit with remnants of wind from Hurricane Ike in the US and my electricity was out from Sunday afternoon until today (Thursday). I tend to write a lot in my notebook, and then I usually type up what I've written, so I wrote this prompt in my notebook by lantern-light, but then I had no way to type it up because I couldn't turn my computer on. **

* * *

_**Prompt #11 - Defy**_

"I'm not so sure about this," Penelo said, her hands completely frozen on the controls, her body stiff in Vaan's seat.

"You've said that about twenty times," Vaan pointed out, hovering behind her.

"Maybe because I'm _not sure about it._" With the airship humming beneath and around her, her anxiety was rising more steadily. It had been bad enough to sit in this chair with the engine _off,_ but now that they were ready to fly, she felt as though she'd been Petrified.

"You just have to pull up. Just straight up and then forward. It's easy."

"Then why don't you do it?" Penelo really didn't think she could get her fingers to move. There were not many things that scared her--at least, not that she allowed herself to show or that she could not push through--but she was having trouble with this one.

Vaan knew them all, and this was one he was determined to help her with, but he said it was because she needed to know how to do this. "What if we needed a quick getaway and I couldn't do it?" he'd asked.

So here she was, telling herself that she could actually possibly _maybe _pilot an airship. Her brain and body weren't exactly cooperating, though, and she couldn't get her hands, or any other part of her body, to move.

Vaan knew she was sometimes even afraid of flying; she was quite fond of being planted firmly on the ground, but when your best friend was practically part of the sky himself, you learned to be part of it, too.

She finally found the ability to move at least her head, and turned wide eyes on Vaan. He was positively radiating his excitement--the prospect of flying off into the horizon always brought that look into his eyes, that wild, adventurous expression that showed everyone around him that he was about to head off to attain ever more of his dreams--to defy the odds, and not only to defy them, but to beat them.

He grinned at her, and she was reminded of why she had agreed to learn to pilot their airship. Aside from Vaan being right about the possible need one day, she was doing this--all of it, from setting foot time and again on the ship, to navigating, to flying lessons--because she had defied the odds right along with Vaan. They had defied the people who thought they would never become anything more than Lowtown orphans that would never do anything with their lives. They had defied what was easiest and they had won their freedom.

_Freedom. Freedom in the skies. Freedom with Vaan. Freedom for myself. I can do this._

Taking a deep breath, Penelo faced forward and loosened her grip on the controls. "Up and forward?"

"Yeah. Gentle, she's got--" Vaan's instructions were cut short when Penelo slowly pulled the controls toward her. Their airship jerked and Vaan gripped the back of the chair tightly before he could be thrown off his feet.

Penelo's stomach swooped with terror as they lifted off the ground, and she almost froze again, but she was afraid if she stopped steering, they would crash, so she quickly steered them away from the desert floor, higher and higher until she was far enough from the ground to really go onward. Then she followed Vaan's further instructions and nudged the controls, and they shot forward.

"Ha! See, it's not so hard!" Vaan clapped a hand to her shoulder, the other hand still clinging to the back of the chair for stability.

The terror was still swishing around in her stomach, but it was joined by something else--something that made her feel light and triumphant and almost giddy. _Exhilaration. _She laughed and turned the ship quickly, nearly causing Vaan to lose his hold on the seat.

Vaan let out a loud whoop as they zoomed forward again. "You've got it!" He swung into her navigation chair. "Are you okay?"

"I'm scared to death!" Penelo exclaimed, grinning at him. "But thrilled, too. This is--"

"--amazing, I know. Now don't get too attached! I'm still the pilot!"

Penelo didn't dare take even one hand off the controls or she would have given him a mock salute. "Yes, Captain!" After a moment she said, "Where am I going?"

Vaan shrugged. "I don't know."

"Well, where are we now?"

"Over the desert."

Penelo sighed. "On the console, Vaan."

"_I _don't know how to read your charts and maps and whatnot. It's a bunch of numbers and dots," he said, waving at the screen.

"I think the next lesson will be teaching you how to navigate."

"Not until I teach you how to land."

The fear gripped her again--landing was always the worst part of flying; she always found herself closing her eyes tightly, as though if they did crash, seeing it would somehow make it worse.

But as Vaan leapt out of her chair and came to stand behind her once more, she knew they would be okay. His hand covered one of hers. "Flip that, then push this down."

She followed his instructions, and before she knew it, they were hovering over the desert and slowly descending. "Feel that? Just like that. Slow and easy. You'll get this down in one piece. And if you don't, Tomaj still owes me some gil--"

"Vaan!"

She could feel him smirking at her, though she didn't turn to look at him. "You'll do fine," he assured her. "I'm right here."

"I know." And really, that was all she needed to do this. Because she _did _know. She always knew--Vaan wouldn't ever let her fall.

Especially if it meant any scratches on his airship.


	19. Smile

**A/N: Thanks so very much to everyone who reviewed: Deus Misereatur, Feeny, SmilesAreForManiacs, and Drink. Juice. **

* * *

_**Prompt #9 - Smile**_

When Penelo set out with Vaan to travel around Ivalice and restore Ashe to her throne, they crossed through many villages and towns where they oftentimes set up camp or stayed in an inn. She always loved to see the new places, sometimes strange, sometimes familiar. She saw villages around lakes and oceans, on mountains and tucked into valleys. There were different customs, unfamiliar sights and smells, but there were some things that remained the same. In many places, especially in Dalmasca, there were refugees from the war, families who had been torn asunder by disease or violence. People with weary faces, weighed by pain and grief, but also with determination and sometimes hope.

And like everywhere else they went on this journey, there were children. Though she never saw as many orphans anywhere as she did in Rabanastre, she habitually took notice of kids that she saw running around. Though most had parents or other adults who cared for them, there were always the ones that seemed to have no one. She was always drawn to them, these children who were like her, who were like her own orphans back in Rabanastre, and she wasn't the only one who was pulled to them. Wherever they went, Vaan always ended up befriending kids along the way. It was normal for her, but perhaps not normal to those who didn't know her and Vaan as well.

Like Ashe, who was standing beside Penelo while they stuffed their packs with supplies they had just bought from the merchant in a small village in northern Dalmasca. When Penelo finished tucking phoenix down into her bag and straightened, it was to find Ashe looking at something with bemusement on her face. She turned to see what Ashe was staring at.

Vaan was sitting on the ground, teaching two boys to play a game involving rocks, while a little girl, probably no more than four or five, sat contentedly on his lap, sucking her thumb. Penelo recognized the game--it was one that Riby, Bucco, and Filo had invented.

"The children are quite taken with him. With both of you, truly, wherever we stay," Ashe said quietly. "I admit, I would not have thought Vaan so adept with children."

"He's had a lot of practice. We had a lot of kids by the time we left Rabanastre. Orphans," Penelo added for clarification. "They started out needing a lot of care. They--" Her throat closed up for a moment, and she finally managed, "They've become pretty good at taking care of themselves and each other."

"You miss them," Ashe said astutely.

Penelo nodded slowly. "I do. But…I know they'll be okay. They have each other."

There was a smile on Vaan's face, and Penelo realized that she hadn't seen him look so content in a very long time. She gave a smile of her own as the child on Vaan's lap stood, pulling her thumb out of her mouth long enough to give him a kiss on the cheek before running off.

:--:--:

Later that night, Vaan was wide awake beside her in their small tent; though he didn't move, Penelo could tell just from his breathing that he wasn't sleeping. She finally rolled onto her side and faced him. In the darkness, she could just make out his eyes, staring up at the tent's roof.

"Is something bothering you, Vaan?" she whispered.

His eyes moved to her, and his voice was quiet when he said, "Do you think they're okay?"

"Who?"

"The kids back home. Kytes, Filo, Bucco…Johm and Fidget and--"

"I think they're fine. They're probably coming up with all sorts of wild tales about where we've gone. You know how their imaginations are. And we'll go back. We'll see them again, and then they'll have a lot of exciting stories to add to their list of tales. They'll probably start trying to get people to pay to hear the stories about us."

"Ha. No doubt about it. Especially Bucco. He's a sneaky one."

"I think Filo's more the one to worry about."

They grinned at each other and Vaan rolled onto his side, facing her. "Ah, we know all their tricks."

"We do."

"It'll make it easy whenever we have kids."

Penelo stared at him. "Whenever _we _have kids?" she repeated faintly. She knew that he could very well have meant whenever they had kids individually, but when he looked at her, she knew he had meant it exactly as she had taken it.

"Yeah." He stretched out his hand and curled his fingers around hers. "They won't be able to get anything past us."

Maybe this should have been something that really threw her off or made her fall over in shock, but she accepted it without question. His comment wasn't a huge, earth-shattering realization. It just _was_ and she understood perfectly. She squeezed his fingers and murmured, "You know they'll try."

Vaan settled onto his back, but didn't let go of her fingers. "Yeah."

The same smile from when he had been playing with the kids earlier was again tugging at his mouth. This time, though, there was something in it that she knew was meant only for her, for _them _and what they shared together. For what they would share together, one day.

"Yeah," she echoed in a whisper. She squeezed his fingers and gave him a smile of her own, and knew that she was understood.


	20. Between

**A/N: Thanks to Drink. Juice, IH8Abbreviations, Feeny, Lord Mayo, and Deus Misereatur for reviewing. :)**

**Well, I was all set to post a different prompt, but I then realized that I really wanted to have this one first, for long and boring reasons that I shall not inundate you with right now. Suffice to say that I have a very strong image in my mind of Vaan and Penelo and a possible future family, and I wanted to start here before jumping way ahead. I mean, yes, these are unrelated one-shots, but when it comes to Vaan and Penelo's family--past or future--I connect them all in my head and…ah, you'll see with this one and then later prompts.**

* * *

_**Prompt #34 - Between**_

"Where is she?" Panicked and frantic, Vaan left his escort--who had been going _way _too slow anyway--as soon as he saw Balthier standing against the wall, right next to a rather plain door in the palace.

"Vaan--"

_"Where is Penelo?"_

"She's--"

A stifled yell answered Vaan's question and Balthier pointed at the door next to him. Vaan froze. "What happened?"

"She--"

"She was supposed to be _fine! _She was just going to visit Fran for a few days!" Another strangled noise from Penelo had him running for the door, but Balthier grabbed his arm, bringing him to a halt before he could reach it.

"Vaan, you need to calm down before you go in there."

"Calm _down? _How can you tell me to calm down!?" Vaan could hear Penelo making a sound somewhere between a cry and a whimper, and tried to wrestle his arm away from Balthier, his fear completely overwhelming him. "She's dying!"

"She's not dying, Vaan, and you are _not _going to help her if you rush in there as panicked as you are. She's going to be just fine. Ashe and Fran are with her, and Ashe has some of the best healers in her service with them. Why do you think we came _here_?"

"Because you did not wish this to happen on your airship?"

Both Vaan and Balthier turned toward the door, which had opened so quietly neither of them had noticed. Ashe was standing there, an expression of mild amusement on her face. "Vaan, Penelo wishes me to inform you that if you do not--"

"_Get in here right now or I'm going to strangle you!" _Penelo burst out, before her voice dissolved into a groan of agony.

Ashe nodded. "As she said."

Balthier let go of Vaan's arm and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Remember, stay calm."

"Easy for you to say," Vaan muttered, but Balthier's steadiness and Ashe's unruffled appearance had served to sooth him a little. He still thought he might pass out as he stepped forward and followed Ashe into the room, especially when he saw Penelo on the bed within, gasping and sweating and obviously in tremendous amounts of pain. Fran was standing next to her, as were two women who had to be the healers Balthier mentioned.

Vaan froze by the door, completely out of his element and utterly terrified. Then his feet were suddenly moving and he reached Penelo's side, where she immediately grabbed his hand and squeezed it so hard he swore he could hear his bones cracking. He stood there, white faced, and said the first thing that came to mind. "Are you okay?"

"Does it _look like I'm…_uhhh!" Penelo was completely doubled over, breathing hard and losing the ability to speak. He knew that she was hurting terribly when she didn't threaten him, but instead said his name in a low, whining plea. _"Vaan..."_

Heart in his mouth, Vaan grabbed Ashe's arm with his free hand and hissed, "We were supposed to have three more weeks!"

Ashe gave him a look that very obviously told him to calm down. She pried his fingers off her arm as Penelo gasped some more and tried to speak, but failed.

"It's going to be fine, Vaan," Ashe assured him.

"This is the worst of it, dearie," one of the healers told him. "She's ready to push. Not long now!"

Watching Penelo suffering so much was making him crazy. "Can't you fix it?" He demanded of the healers.

"It is not something that needs fixing," Fran told him quietly. "Childbirth is a normal part of life."

That didn't do much to help Vaan, who could do nothing but clutch Penelo's hand. Apparently she had suffered most of her short labor on board the _Strahl _(he was told that it was short, anyway, and if this was short, he would have hated to see a long labor), so he had missed most of it. He was only in the room for a little while--though it seemed like ages to him--before the loud, piercing wail of a baby split the air.

Vaan froze, his hand still in Penelo's, as one of the healers swiftly tied and cut the baby's umbilical cord and wrapped the crying infant in a blanket. She set the bundle on Penelo's legs, saying, "'Tis a boy."

Tears stung Vaan's eyes as he took in the sight of the tiny child on Penelo's lap. "Is…he okay?"

"Healthy as a chocobo," the healer said. "Good strong lungs, that one."

Vaan slowly, gently reached out and touched the baby's cheek. _His _baby. His and Penelo's. _Theirs._ It seemed so incredibly surreal. "He's--" He choked on his words and shook his head.

Penelo had tears mixed in with the sweat on her face, and she let go of Vaan's hand so she could slowly pick up the baby and cradle him to her chest. "He's so tiny," she breathed. She held him close for another moment, and then whispered, "Here, Vaan."

Heart in his mouth, Vaan carefully took the baby--his son--and held him in his arms. He had stopped crying, but his eyes were closed and his face was all red and scrunched up. "He's amazing," he breathed.

"Have you a name for him?" Ashe, standing quietly beside Fran, asked.

Vaan and Penelo exchanged glances and both said, "Reks."

They had long ago decided that whenever they had kids, they would name them after family members--brothers, fathers, mothers, until they ran out of names and then they could find other sources. "Maybe grandparents," Vaan had added thoughtfully.

Penelo had giggled and said, "Just how many kids do you think we're having, Vaan?"

"A lot," had been Vaan's simple response.

"Do you want to hold him, Ashe?" Vaan asked, and Ashe's eyes widened slightly.

"I do not know if--" But Vaan was already transferring the baby into her arms. She stood stiffly for a moment, as though she had never held a baby before and had no idea what to do. Then her eyes softened and she smiled. "He is beautiful."

"He favors his mother," Fran said, looking at him over Ashe's shoulder.

Ashe gently placed him back in Penelo's arms. "We shall give you some time alone."

One of the healers told Penelo, "I'll be back very shortly to check on you and speak with you about things you shall need to do to care for yourself."

"Thank you."

When everyone except Vaan and Penelo were gone, they looked at little Reks, and then each other. "The girls are going to go crazy when they see him," Vaan said.

"Filo and Fidget have already been arguing over who gets to watch him," Penelo said with a smile. Their other "kids," all the numerous orphans, had been making baby toys and gathering blankets and clothes for months now. Though they weren't little kids so much anymore; Filo, the oldest, was already thirteen.

They were quiet for a moment, and then Penelo whispered, "It still doesn't quite seem real. He's…he's really _ours_."

"I know."

It was impossible to put to words how Vaan felt at that moment. Looking at Reks was like looking at his entire life with Penelo, at what they had been through together, and knowing that this child was the culmination of everything that existed between them. At everything that had always existed between them. In one sense, it felt like they had reached the end of something, and he knew that in one way, they had. They had reached the end of one stage of their lives together, but now they were starting a whole new journey. It was the beginning of something amazing.

Baby Reks chose that moment to scrunch up his face and start wailing again, and Penelo said nervously, "I think he might be hungry? Um, I don't quite know how to go about feeding him. Could you get the healer for me, Vaan?"

"Sure." Vaan bent down and kissed her. "You were amazing," he told her. He gently kissed Reks's forehead, too. "So were you," he whispered to the baby.

"You missed most of it!" Penelo said, but she was smiling. A tired smile, but a beautiful, happy one. "Which might be a good thing. I think you might have fainted if you'd seen any more of the labor."

"I would not have fainted," Vaan said, heading for the door to fetch a healer.

As Reks continued to cry, Vaan realized that while this was the start of something incredible, it was probably also the start of something very _loud_.

But hey, he'd taken care of a dozen-odd orphans in Lowtown; how much trouble could one baby be?


	21. Down

**A/N: Thanks a million to my reviewers: Deus Misereatur, eolhcsullivan, Drink. Juice, Lord Mayo, Feeny, and Uniquely L. **

**Sorry this one took so long. Contrary to popular belief, I do actually have a life. ;) And my son has been sick. :(**

* * *

_**Prompt #5 - Down**_

_"Forget me not_

_These times gone by_

_The cold so near _

_Remember me_

_When this has passed _

_May truth prevail _

_When warmth has dimmed _

_Remember me."_

The melancholy song was carried across the quiet inn by Penelo's clear, lilting voice, and Balthier took a drink of his ale and spoke quietly to Vaan. "I didn't realize your girl was so talented."

"'Tis an old Dalmascan song," Ashe said, equally quiet, her eyes on Penelo as she sang.

"Hm?" Vaan was only half paying attention; he was exhausted after days and days of trekking across the Cerobi Steppe. The chance to rest in an actual inn in Balfonheim Port was a luxury they'd not had in some time. They still needed more gil for upgraded weapons, and none of them had looked forward to the prospect of heading back out to gather additional loot to sell.

"I can earn us some gil," Penelo had said, "but I'm too tired to dance tonight." So she had opted to sing instead.

"Penelo has a lovely voice," Ashe said.

"Oh. Right." Vaan's head flopped back onto the table. It wasn't as if he hadn't heard Penelo singing constantly his entire life. It was great that people actually gave her gil after hearing her sing, but there had been times--especially early in the morning when he was trying to sleep--that he would have paid her to keep quiet so he could sleep a bit longer. (Even though, when she wasn't there, he often found himself missing her voice terribly.)

Penelo finished her song to scattered applause, and when she returned to the table, it was with a purse jangling with gil.

"Well done," Balthier said approvingly, and Vaan looked up in time to see Penelo give a weary smile.

"Thanks." She didn't bother sitting down. "I'm pretty tired. I'm going to bed."

Everyone accepted this and bid her good night, except for Vaan, who saw something in the way she moved, something in the way her eyes didn't quite meet anyone else's, in the pinch of her mouth, and he knew that she was not _just _tired. Something was wrong. Without saying anything to any of the others, he waited until Penelo had disappeared down the hallway, and then he stood and followed her to the room she was to share with Fran and Ashe.

He entered without knocking, which might not have been the best idea, because she was in the process of peeling herself out of her jumpsuit. She at least hadn't had time to remove the shirt she wore underneath, but it didn't stop her from gasping and jerking the jumpsuit back up around her hips. "_Vaan!_ Have you ever heard of _knocking?_"

Vaan flopped down on one of the beds and waved a hand. "Don't let me stop you."

Penelo made a circle with her finger, indicating he was to turn around. Sighing, he swiveled around on the bed and stared at the ceiling until she said, "Okay."

He turned back around to find her in her pajamas--a very small top and loose pants--and her hands planted on her hips. "Is there a reason you decided to barge in here?"

"Something's wrong."

"With what?"

"With _you,_" Vaan said.

"I'm just tired, Vaan. We've been through a lot lately, in case you hadn't noticed. And if you'll move, I can actually go to bed."

When Vaan moved over on the bed, giving her enough space to lie down, she pursed her lips. "I meant move _all _the way off the bed."

Vaan only raised his eyebrows at her.

Penelo sighed, but lay down on the space he had left her. "I'm going to sleep now," she said firmly.

"Okay." Vaan watched her close her eyes, deliberately staring intently at her and silently counting backwards from five. As soon as he hit zero, as he had predicted, her eyes snapped open and she frowned at him. "Ready to talk now?" he asked.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want to talk." Penelo closed her eyes again and deliberately turned away from Vaan.

He looked at her back in the dim light filtering through the window. "Fine."

"Good. I'll see you in the morning. Good night."

She obviously expected that he was going to leave, and so he felt her jerk in surprise when he wrapped both arms around her and pulled her against him. She remained stiff and still for a moment, and then she relaxed. She shifted her head so it was resting on the arm he had underneath her, her eyelashes tickling against his skin.

Vaan still wasn't sure if she would talk at all, and if she didn't, it was okay. She didn't have to tell him what was bothering her, and he knew that often she had to mull something over for a while before she was willing to open up about it. It didn't come as a surprise when, a short time later, she spoke quietly, "I really am tired."

"I know."

"No, you don't. I mean…really tired, Vaan. I'm starting to wonder if any of this is ever going to end. Every time we get somewhere on this journey, someone else says, oh, hey, you've got to go over _here _now and then that leads to somewhere else and sometimes it feels like we're just going in circles. I'm not trying to complain. I'm not going to stop going. I'm just...trying to hold onto hope that this is all possible. That we're going to succeed in the end."

"So you're just feeling down right now?"

"Yeah."

Vaan was silent for a moment, and then he abruptly grabbed the pillow off the bed and hit Penelo with it.

"_Vaan! _What the--?" She jerked to where she was sitting up, glaring at him. She got a good look at the sly grin on his face and her eyes narrowed further. "You are _so_ asking for it." She rolled off the bed and grabbed another pillow, turning around and trying to whack him with it. He fell backwards off the bed in his attempt to keep out of her reach, and was then smacked with the pillow when she leapt across the bed and hit him while he was down.

_"Who's _asking for it now?" Vaan asked, jumping to his feet and getting a better grip on his own pillow.

Five minutes later the door opened and Ashe stepped in to find Penelo jumping on one of the beds, swinging her pillow at Vaan; both were disheveled and laughing, and when they caught sight of her standing at the door with her mouth slightly ajar, they laughed even harder.

"Um, hi, Ashe!" Penelo finally managed through her giggles.

Ashe cleared her throat and found her voice. "When you two are--finished--I should like to get some rest."

"I think we're about done here," Vaan said. He grinned up at Penelo where she still stood on the bed. "What do you say? Truce?"

"Truce," she agreed.

Vaan put down his pillow and held his arms toward Penelo, who dropped her own pillow and stepped forward, allowing Vaan to lift her off the bed. Before he set her on the ground, he looked into her eyes and whispered, "Feeling better?"

Her lips were still curved into a smile and her eyes sparkled, and that was answer enough even before she whispered back, "Yes."


	22. Steal

**A/N: Thank you to my fantastic, awesome, incredible reviewers: Deus Misereatur, IH8Abbreviations, eolhcsullivan, Destatikai, Lord Mayo, Drink. Juice, and Azi1987. You guys are the best. :D**

**Well, I did one like this way back in chapter four for Penelo, and I've been wanting to do one for Vaan, so…here we go. Very short, but I meant it to be short.**

* * *

_**Prompt #24 - Steal**_

He is the boy who tries to be strong even when he doesn't feel that way. He wants to take care of her even though he doesn't quite know how to take care of himself, but he does his best for both of them. He's sneaky and teasing and he especially enjoys poking fun at her, which makes her so mad at him sometimes, but even when she's angry, she knows she wouldn't change him for anything.

He's the most honest person she's ever met, and some people might dispute this, might say that he lies and he steals and how is that honest? But she knows the lies he tells are mostly the ones he tells himself. She sees him for who he is. And she loves who he is.

There are people who see them and say that Vaan isn't living up to his full talent, and sometimes they say the same of her, but it is Vaan who usually takes the brunt of these insults and accusations. She hears people whispering that _she _works when she dances, while Vaan just stands around. They don't realize that he always turns up wherever she dances so that he can keep an eye on her and the crowd watching her. Others point out that _she _works for Migelo more than he does, but they don't know that Migelo only has so much work, so much gil, and he's doing his best to stretch it between a lot of orphans. It doesn't mean she isn't terrified every time Vaan steals, because she doesn't want him to get arrested, but she understands why he does it.

Sometimes she thinks he does things that are dangerous or unwise because he just wants to feel alive. She knows that a lot of the crazy stunts he pulls are to remind himself that he's still breathing, that he can still take risks, but she wishes sometimes he wouldn't, because she wants him to _stay _alive. Stay alive and well and with her. Everyone has different ways of dealing with pain, and she knows that Vaan is still hurting, cut and bleeding and never quite healing from all the pain he's suffered. She knows because she still suffers, too.

"Please be careful," she begs him when he comes back with a bag of gil swiped from an Imperial guard.

He just grins at her and assures her it's all going to be okay, and she only gets more exasperated and worried. So she nags him and pokes back at him and never, ever stops reminding him that stealing could get him taken away. He rolls his eyes and tells her that she worries too much.

But when he comes in with stolen food late at night and thinks she's asleep, she watches through her eyelashes as he sets the food down, steps over to look down at her to make sure she's sleeping, and then sits down next to her. "I hate this," he whispers. "I just want…I just want to keep you safe." It is only then he crumbles, pressing his face to his knees and letting his tears fall. She opens her eyes and sits up so she can wrap her arms around him, and he shakes with his attempt to suppress his tears.

She holds him tightly and murmurs, "I know."

She does know, more than she can say right now. He stole her heart away long ago, and she doesn't know anymore how she could ever live without him. So she does what she can to keep him safe, too, and prays that it will be enough.


	23. Believe

**A/N: Thanks as always to you wonderful reviewers: Deus Misereatur, SmilesAreForManiacs, IH8Abbreviations, and Drink. Juice. **

**This prompt was written…well, because I really can't avoid writing Vaan and Penelo with kids at different timeframes (whether it's their own children or their "orphan children"), because I think kids are just such an intrinsic part of their lives.**

* * *

_**Prompt #39 - Believe**_

By the time Penelo was twenty-seven, she and Vaan had three children and a fourth on the way. She had discovered in her seven years as a mother that people could be flat out mean about children; whether they thought they were being rude or whether they just thought she would be appreciative of their opinions, she hadn't a clue.

"Irresponsible, if you ask me. So many orphans in the world and they're having another baby," some people scoffed, and then, when they found out that their only daughter, five-year-old Illie, was adopted, they would demand, "How can you really love a child that's not yours? I could never do that."

If Penelo was in a gracious mood, she would say with sarcastic sweetness, "Well, it's a good thing she's mine and not yours." If she was in a less tolerant mood, she would be more inclined to hit them with a silence spell and tell them to learn some manners before they spoke out of stupidity and ignorance.

Penelo loved her family more than anything; she loved being a mother and caring for children. Still, with motherhood came some old fears that she thought she had rid herself of years earlier, but which always seemed to rear ugly heads on occasion. Basch had once told her, "It is said old habits die hard, but I have learned that old fears die even harder," and he was right.

One night, after tucking her three children into bed, she lay down on the couch, her hand resting over her bulging belly, and tears inexplicably came to her eyes.

When Vaan came home ten minutes later carrying several bags of food, it was to find her crying unstoppably. He dropped the bags on the floor and was kneeling in front of her in an instant. "Penelo? What's wrong? Did something happen? Is it the kids? The baby? Are you hurt?"

She managed to shake her head, opened her mouth to speak, and then abruptly burst into another round of tears.

Vaan moved forward and wrapped his arms around her. "Just hormones?" he asked. "You cry a lot more when you're pregnant, you know. And that's saying something, because sometimes you just cry a lot anyway."

"It's n-not hormones," Penelo finally choked out, even though hormones certainly could have attributed to the ridiculous excess of tears.

"Then what?" Vaan leaned back and wiped the tears from her cheeks, but they were swiftly replaced by more.

"I'm scared," she whispered.

"Of what?"

Penelo took a deep breath and willed herself to stop crying. Several more deep breaths and she was calm enough to speak somewhat levelly. "It's the same thing," she whispered. "What if something happens to the kids? What if something happens to me? What if they have to grow up without a mother? I don't know--I don't--I--"

Vaan pulled her closer again, and she shut her eyes against his shoulder. He rubbed her back for a moment before he spoke slowly. "We know that anything can happen. We know how quickly circumstances can change, how fast we can lose what we love--"

"Gee, Vaan, you sure know how to make a girl feel better."

"But," Vaan continued, ignoring her sarcasm, "We also learned a long time ago how amazing and wonderful life can be. How much we can gain and how far we can reach if we believe and don't let go."

"It doesn't always stop the fear."

"I know."

"I don't want our children to ever go through what we went through." This was a conversation they'd had in many forms over the years; since even before she got pregnant with Reks. They took it in turns to be the one who was struggling with it and this time it was apparently Penelo's turn.

And Vaan asked the question they always asked each other, that always brought them back around. "Is it worth it?"

Penelo blinked away more tears, a small smile finding its way across her face, a blossoming joy growing through the fear. Joy as she thought about Reks, the mischief maker, the one always leading his younger siblings into trouble, but also being the one to fiercely protect them and get them out of the mischief, even if he'd pulled them into it in the first place. Joy as she thought of Illie, with her dark curls and the huge dark eyes that had captivated Penelo the very first time she had caught sight of the little girl scrounging for scraps of food on the street, dirty and undernourished, and whose wariness of Vaan and Penelo had soon melted into trust and love. Joy as she thought of little Thais, who was completely a mama's boy and toddled after her all the time, always wanting to be held and to snuggle.

Her hand moved again on her stomach, pressing against a foot that was poking out, and she said, "Absolutely." She exchanged a smile with Vaan and whispered, "Thank you."

She struggled to sit up on the couch and Vaan pulled her up. "Did you get my--" Her voice trailed off as Vaan pulled out a sack of pastries stuffed with sugar and nuts, which she'd been craving insatiably the past week.

"Are you kidding me?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. "If I'd forgotten this I would have had to listen to you rant for a while, and _then _I would have had to go back out for it."

"Ha!" She snatched it from his hand and opened the sack, pulling out the sticky, doughy goodness within. "'Fank you," she mumbled around a huge bite.

Vaan grinned at her and then carried the bags to the other room to put the food away. Almost as soon as he left the room, a soft voice brought her gaze over toward the hallway. "Mama?"

She looked to see Illie standing there, rubbing her eyes and blinking in the bright light.

Penelo set her pastry down and held out her arms. "What is it, Illie?"

Illie padded over to her and climbed into her lap, squirming to get comfortable, a task made more difficult by Penelo's enormous belly. "I can't sleep. I thought I heard you crying."

"I was crying, but I'm all better now."

"Were you hurt?"

"No." Penelo tucked a strand of dark hair behind Illie's ear and smiled at her. "Just a little sad."

"Did I make you sad?"

"Oh, no, sweetie. Of course you didn't." Penelo hugged her tightly and kissed the top of her head. "You make me happier than you'll ever know."

"You're really okay?" Illie asked, still frowning worriedly.

"Yes. I promise."

Illie patted her stomach. "And Idin's okay, too?"

"Wait a minute; who said this is going to be a boy?" Penelo asked teasingly.

Illie looked at her plainly. "Mama, you _always _have boys. Reks…and then _Thais…_" Her little hand stopped moving and she looked up at Penelo. "Idin was your brother's name, right?"

"Yes."

"Do you miss him a lot? Is that why you were crying?"

Penelo blinked at her daughter's intuitiveness. "In a way," she said slowly. She smiled again. "He would have adored you."

"_Everyone_ adores me," Illie said, and she spoke in such an unassuming manner that Penelo giggled.

"Of course they do, because you're just so wonderful and beautiful." Penelo tickled Illie, making her squeal, before she said, "Now come on; it's past your bedtime."

"But I'm not tired."

"I know, but it's bedtime anyway." Penelo helped Illie slide off her lap and stand, and then managed to shove herself off the couch. She took Illie back to her bed and tucked her in. "Good night, Illie," she whispered.

"Good night, Mama." And despite Illie's protests about not being tired, she yawned and her eyes started to close.

When Penelo turned around, Vaan was standing in the doorway, smiling a little at her. She walked up to him and squeezed his hand, whispering, "Completely worth it."


	24. Question

**A/N: Thank you to Feeny, Lord Mayo, eolhcsullivan, Azi1987, and Zero Sakura Cross for reviewing. If you haven't received a reply from me to your reviews, it's not because I haven't sent them. It's because this website is malfunctioning and hasn't been sending out any emails (including review alerts, story update alerts, etc.) for a couple of days now. Grr. Though it looks like most of you found my last update even without the story update alerts. :D**

**I'm honestly not sure what I think of this prompt. I really don't know where it came from. I've been sick the last couple of days--my son's all better (thank you all for your concern about him) but I caught whatever he had. Joy. So I wrote most of this in my notebook while spending all day sick on the couch and now that I've typed it up I'm just kind of looking at it going _what? _So I blame any strangeness on my hazy mind and the cold meds. ;)**

* * *

_**Prompt #33 - Question**_

Penelo didn't like Archades. She had been fascinated with it the first time she visited, but the more she returned there, whether it was to pay a visit to Larsa or for a job, the more she grew to dislike it. She always felt completely out of place walking through the city. She stuck out as a stranger; her pale hair, her accent, and especially her clothes all screamed _foreigner_. The other girls her age who lived in the city were completely different, and she knew that she would never understand them. They would stare at her and gape at her dancing outfit, sometimes whispering to each other or making snide comments to her. She knew that they were worlds apart; these girls knew nothing of living on the streets, of fighting for your life and the lives of those you cared about. They knew nothing of hunger and suffering. They didn't know what it was like to be dirty and sweaty and smelly because of battles fought and won. They probably would have passed out if faced with copious amounts of blood, and she would have liked to see them trying to treat a friend's wound in the middle of a battle.

She tried not to let the Archadian nobility make her feel any less than what she was. She was confident in herself, in the path she had chosen for her life, and she knew she had nothing to be ashamed of; her past, her struggles, her pain had all made her stronger, had all made her who she was now.

Sometimes, though, it was difficult seeing this outward utopia because it was a reminder of everything she had lost. Sometimes seeing these giggly girls with their perfect clothes and flawless, unscarred skin made her feel plain and jaded and almost unworthy. She would be painfully aware of her scars, her calluses, her blemishes, her imperfections. She would see these untainted girls and she would question herself. Was there something about her that made her unlovely? Broken? Was she less because she'd eaten food thrown in the trash before, because she had blood on her hands, because she knew how to steal and spit and wield weapons?

She hated that anything could still have that effect on her, could make her question herself like that. She should be beyond such pettiness.

It certainly didn't help that the girls in Archades snubbed and looked down upon her, but seemed to have no problem with Vaan. _Vaan _being a foreigner apparently made him intriguing and exciting, and Penelo found herself clenching her teeth in irritation for the tenth time as they headed back toward the aerodome, passing two girls about her age. They giggled and beamed at Vaan as he walked by, and one of them waved at him.

Vaan smiled at them, undoubtedly completely oblivious as to _why _they were waving at him. Penelo pressed her lips together and refused to give jealousy a foothold on her. There was _nothing _to be jealous about when it came to Vaan; she knew exactly where she stood with him and these strangers had no part in that.

She told herself she was being stupid about these Archadian girls, but by the time she and Vaan boarded their airship, her stomach was twisted into knots and all she wanted to do was get far, far away. She relaxed bit by bit as they got out of Archades and away from the city, until it was nothing but a spot in the distance behind them. Sighing, she propped her feet up on her chair; the navigation coordinates were set and there wasn't much else to do.

Her hand brushed against an old scar on her leg, and she heard herself speaking, almost as if it was someone else asking the question. "Do you think I'm pretty?" She immediately wanted to slap herself. Why had she asked that? She knew Vaan thought she was pretty. Right? And what did it matter anyway? She was who she was and she liked who she was.

"What?" Vaan frowned over at her. "What're you--"

Penelo hastily stood up. "Never mind." She hurried out of the cockpit and into her room, ignoring Vaan's call of, "Penelo, hold on!"

_What has gotten into me? I'm being stupid._ _Our scars add to who we are. That's all. Inner scars, outer scars; I don't have to be ashamed of my imperfections._

As if to prove this, she stripped off her dancing pants and stepped in front of the mirror wearing nothing but her top and her underwear. There was the huge, ugly scar that ran jaggedly from her right hip down to almost her knee, a souvenir from a sharp piece of metal in Lowtown back when she had no Cure spells or potions to heal it. There were the bruises on her _other _leg from where she'd recently been attacked by a huge snake during a hunt. There was dirt smudged under her eye, though where that had come from, she didn't know. There were all sorts of little scars from scrapes she'd gotten in and out of over the years. Freckles on her arms, a birthmark on her hip…

She was nearly thrown off balance when the airship suddenly started to descend. Moments later, it settled firmly on the ground, and Penelo had just turned around to look for her pants (which had gone sliding across the floor) when her door opened with a suddenness that made her jump.

She whirled on Vaan. "What are you _doing?_ I'm not dressed!"

"Like I've never seen you in your underwear before," Vaan said, crossing his arms. "We've lived together for how many years?"

His eyes traveled quickly down her body, but he didn't look at her the way most men did; he looked at her in a way that said he saw her inside and out. It would have made her flush under any other circumstances, but when his gaze hit the scar on her leg, she instead found herself trembling and fighting back tears. "I don't care! _Out_!" She turned around to get her pants, and hadn't taken more than a step when Vaan's arms encircled her from behind.

He held her tightly and she froze as he murmured, "I think you're beautiful." He dropped a kiss on her shoulder, then released her and left the room as suddenly as he'd come.

Two tears slid down her cheeks, and she wiped them quickly away, snatching up her pants and pulling them on before following Vaan out to the cockpit, where he was settling into his seat again. He looked at her as she stopped beside him, and she caught a glimpse of the surprise on his face when she plopped onto his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Thank you. Sorry I was being so stupid."

"You weren't being stupid, Penelo. Everyone needs reminders sometimes."

"Does that mean you need me to tell you you're beautiful? Hey!" she squealed when he tickled her side.

Vaan grinned at her, and she returned it with a happy smile of her own. "Archades has that effect, doesn't it?" he asked quietly.

"What?"

"It makes you question yourself," he said simply, and Penelo realized that he had known exactly why she had been so bothered.

"Yeah..."

Vaan didn't ask her to move, and so she stayed put, leaning back against his shoulder as he piloted them back into the air and onto the course she had set earlier. She closed her eyes and listened to the sound of the airship, felt the steady rise and fall of Vaan's chest with each breath he took, and she sighed contentedly. She was exactly where she wanted to be; she was exactly _who _she wanted to be and no one could take that from her.

Another smile touched her lips as Vaan folded one arm around her and held her snugly against him.

Those Archadian girls had no idea what they were missing.


	25. Scream

**A/N: Thanks to my reviewers: eolhcsullivan, IH8Abbreviations, Destatikai, Lord Mayo, and Mandy I Am. :)**

**Yes, this prompt has orphans again. I originally wrote it with just Vaan and Penelo, but then I realized for the subject I was writing about, it really wouldn't make sense **_**not **_**to include the other orphans. Besides, they're just too stinking adorable to get away from for long. ;)**

**I'm now halfway through my prompt table. HUZZAH! (No, seriously, though, this is where I wonder what I'm going to write for 25 more prompts. -head desk-)**

* * *

_**Prompt #18 - Scream**_

"Vaan! _Vaan!"_ Penelo shouted, searching through the crowd of people, some talking, some crying, some wailing in pain or grief. Her heart was pounding in her ears as she shined her light around, frustrated by the dark night and wishing for the sun.

Bodies of the dead or injured were strewn along the road, the sight threatening to overwhelm Penelo with black memories of another time, a different night. "_Vaan!" _Her voice was raw and caught in a sob. Where was he? He couldn't be dead. He _couldn't be _dead. _Oh please, oh, please, oh, please…don't let him be dead…_

Why? Why had some of the Rabanastrans decided to stage a protest? Didn't they have any memory of what had happened the last time they had done this? Didn't they remember the deaths that it had wrought? It had only been a year; they couldn't be that _stupid, _could they?

Apparently they could be--how could they have forgotten? It was so easy for a "peaceful" protest to turn to hate and violence and death, especially when the Archadian soldiers were involved.

As tears poured down Penelo's cheeks, she looked frantically around and wondered how many more orphans had been created this night. How many parents had died by accident, because they were at the wrong place at the wrong time? Just like her parents, victims of that first horrible riot, slaughtered indiscriminately because they were stuck in the crowd.

At least the reasoning behind the first protest had made sense; King Raminas had been killed and the Archadians had swept into Rabanastre and taken it for their own. It had been the hardest time of Penelo's life; she had just lost her brothers, and Reks had just been brought back to the city, mostly dead and completely comatose after suffering the wounds that had eventually killed them. He had lived for a while in that horrible state, but while death was busy draining the life from him, it had swept in and taken her parents, too.

"VAAN! Vaan, answer me!" she screamed desperately. She caught sight of a boy her age lying bloodied and lifeless, and her knees went weak. She stumbled and just barely caught herself from succumbing to gravity.

"Vaan…" she whispered, choked and tortured. _Where are you_? She didn't want to look too closely at the bodies, terrified that Vaan might be among the fallen, but at the same time, she had to look, had to see if he was among them. Had to see if there were any children there, any of _her _charges, and if the soldiers had killed kids, nothing would be able to suppress her rage.

A moment later, almost as if he had heard the whisper instead of all her yelling, she heard Vaan's unmistakable voice calling her name. "Penelo!"

She whirled around, aiming her light toward the voice, and then she saw him, crouched against a wall, mostly hidden from sight, his arms shielding two huddled figures--Johm and Myro, she realized. She ran toward him, smacking into him just as he stood up and folded his arms around her. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine--you?"

"I'm okay, I--"

"I couldn't find you; I was looking _everywhere_--"

"I got caught in the crowd of rioters; I had to find shelter; I was--

"_So scared,_" Penelo breathed.

"The kids?"

"I don't know, some of them came running to me in Lowtown and told me there was a riot going on and I told them to stay there, I don't know who's missing--" Penelo finally peeled herself away from Vaan to get a better look at the two kids. Myro's eyes were huge and blank, and Penelo wondered if she was even really aware of where she was. Johm was crying and trying unsuccessfully to hide his tears.

She took a step toward them, but was stopped when Vaan grabbed her arm.

"Penelo, you're bleeding!"

She looked down at herself to find a dark stain on her middle, and she felt a little dazed. She didn't feel any pain, had no memory of being injured…but her body was running on adrenaline and it could have blocked the pain. She reached down and touched the bloody area, but there was no cut, no damage to her clothes there.

Her eyes traveled to Vaan and she was suddenly dizzy. "I'm not bleeding. You are." He had a long gash in the top of his pants, and was bleeding from a cut in his lower abdomen.

"What?" Vaan looked down at himself, and shook his head dazedly. "I must have--I had to go right through a crowd of rioters, that must have been when I--but I don't hurt."

"Not yet." Shock, adrenaline--she knew from experience that people could go for a while without feeling their injuries. "We have to get out of here, Vaan. I can't look at it to see how bad it is out here. Come on. We have to get back to Lowtown." Penelo held her hands out to Myro and Johm, trying to hold onto calm, trying to be assured. Johm stepped toward her, scrubbing his face, but Myro remained unmoving and staring at nothing. It didn't surprise her. Myro had always been the most quiet and sensitive of the children. She quickly stepped forward and picked her up, settling her in her arms. "Come on, Johm."

Johm pressed against her side, and they headed for the nearest stairwell to Lowtown, and Penelo gave one last brief look around at the chaos outside before she pushed open the door, fear welling up in her like bile. So many dead…Vaan hurt…

She tried to ignore the renewed pounding of her heart in her ears. Panicking was not going to help anyone, not Vaan, or her, or the kids, at all.

It seemed to take forever to get to their room in Lowtown, but she had to get there; it was where her supply of curatives was hidden. About halfway there, Vaan muttered, "Okay, I feel it now. _Ouch._"

It seemed all the children had crammed into her and Vaan's room--or most of them; she glanced quickly around and knew some were still missing. The ones that were present were frightened and clamored for her attention as soon as she reached them, and they hammered her with questions as she lay Myro in the corner on a blanket, and then made Vaan lay down, too.

"What happened to Vaan?"

"Kytes and Filo ain't here--"

"--we couldn't find them in Lowtown--"

"--we looked all over!"

"What's wrong with Myro?"

"Were there lots of dead people?"

"Are the soldiers gonna come into Lowtown?"

"Are we all gonna die?"

Penelo held up her hands for silence. "We're not all going to die," she said very firmly. "Vaan's hurt, but I'm going to take care of it. Myro's just a little scared right now." She hoped that's all it was; she had known people who had been so traumatized that they had shut down and she hoped that didn't happen to Myro.

Penelo moved a couple of kids aside so she could wiggle one of the rocks out of the wall, behind which her items were stored so they wouldn't get stolen. She grabbed a potion and handed it to Vaan. "Drink that," she ordered, her fingers swiftly unfastening his pants so she could roll the edge of them down over his gash.

"You know, if you want to get me naked you could just _ask,_" Vaan said, in a voice just loud enough for her to hear, and if he hadn't been hurt, she would have smacked him.

"You can't be too badly injured if you can still talk like that," she muttered. "Drink the potion already!"

She heard the sound of Vaan swallowing while she examined his wound. It didn't look very deep; it was still bleeding quite a lot, but certainly not enough that he could to die from it. The potion was helping, too, making the cut even less deep and closing up the edges of the wound.

Penelo didn't have any clean cloths of any sort, so after washing the cut out with water--at which Vaan yelped and grumbled some more--she grabbed her only spare shirt, folded it, and pressed it over the healing gash, then rolled Vaan's pants back over it and fastened them back up to hold the shirt snugly in place. "You'll be fine. It's just a scratch."

The reality of what had just happened was swiftly sweeping over her, and she took several deep shuddering breaths. It wasn't over yet. She wondered if the soldiers had come back to take the bodies away yet, wondered how many people were up there screaming and crying because they had found the bodies of loved ones. She wondered how many people still didn't know what had happened, and would only find out when the person they were waiting for never came home.

Would the soldiers come down to Lowtown? Would they take revenge on the citizens for the violence of the riot (never mind that the soldiers had done most of the killing; she knew she had seen the bodies of several soldiers there, too, and she knew how unrelenting Archadians could be). Would they sweep through the undercity to prove a point?

She clenched her hands into fists, and turned her attention to Myro. Fidget and Layabout were sitting with her, each clutching one of Myro's hands. Vaan sat up, wincing slightly. "I've gotta go look for Kytes and Filo."

"Vaan, I'll go--you're hurt."

"Not bad, and you mostly healed it."

"I'm still--"

"I'll handle this."

They exchanged heated glances, arguing with their eyes, and Penelo knew neither one of them wanted the other to be back out scouring the city streets, but she also knew neither of them would sit idly by while Kytes and Filo were missing. "We'll both go," she said firmly, and was just turning around to tell the other kids to watch over Myro until they got back when the door opened. Several kids jumped, and at least one screamed, and Penelo whirled toward the door, half-expecting to see some avenging soldier standing there--but it was Kytes and Filo, tripping and stumbling over the door to squeeze into the already cramped space.

Vaan, within arm's reach, grabbed each one by a shoulder. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

Both looked up at him with those dark, pained eyes, and Penelo knew that they, too, had seen the destruction above. Destruction that all of these children had looked upon in one form or another during their short lives, which they shouldn't ever have had to see in the first place. Filo was the first to slowly shake her head, then stumbled past Vaan and walked straight into Penelo, burying her face in her shoulder. Penelo held her tightly as Filo whispered, "There's a lot of dead people up there."

Penelo's throat closed up, rendering her unable to speak the words running through her mind. _I'm so glad you weren't one of them. _

She felt helpless, agonized, furious; she was a raging muddle of emotions and she couldn't let them loose, not in front of the kids, not when they needed her to be calm. She had to keep _them_ calm.

There was hardly room the breathe in the small room, but no one was willing to move out of it, so the kids all sat against walls and leaned against each other, except for Myro, who was still stretched out on the floor. What she needed right now, Penelo guessed, was rest, but even that wasn't assurance that she would recover emotionally from what she had witnessed.

Then again, could any of them really recover from what they had witnessed in their lives? Deaths piled on deaths; pain and hunger and loneliness…it was enough to scar anyone for life.

When they were sure that the soldiers were, for now, staying out of Lowtown, the tension in the room drained slightly. One by one, the orphans all finally drifted off to sleep, slumping against the walls or each other, until only Vaan and Penelo were still awake, crammed together into one tiny corner. Unspeaking, they sat in the hot, stifled room with the multitude of sleeping children. What was there to say? They had been through this before. They had raged and screamed and yelled and cried and nothing had changed. It had all happened again anyway. It might happen again.

_No, no, I can't think that way, I can't, or I'll go completely crazy. I have to believe we'll get through this, too, and that one day this will be over. I have to keep us together. We can do it if we hang on. We can, all of us._

Still, when Vaan gripped her hand tightly, she knew she was not alone in her fury and agony. And when Myro woke from a nightmare, the first--but certainly not last--child to do so that night, the scream that tore from her throat echoed the silent scream in Penelo's own mind.


	26. Feel

**A/N: Thank you to Drink. Juice and Feeny for reviewing. :D **

**I've now learned that when I'm lacking inspiration, all I have to do is pop in FFXII and run around Archades for a while. Seriously, that place is full of stories and the people there drive me **_**crazy **_**because they are sooo full of themselves, but it provided me with something to write. I mean, some of the stories those Archadian people have… I just grabbed my notebook and started jotting down quotes as I played. Yes, I am a geek, thank you. ;) **

* * *

_**Prompt #20 - Feel**_

"Stupid pine chops," Vaan muttered under his breath. What was it with these people? They waltzed around their city fretting over stupid, pointless things. Did they not realize what was happening in the world around them or even among them? Did they not see the pain and starvation and despair, or did they just not care? Were they happy pretending ignorance? If even a quarter of these people had ever ventured into Old Archades to see how the people there lived, he would eat his left foot.

They were also arrogant. Even some of the _kids--_Vaan spoke with one boy who was snide and basically called him a peasant and then demanded Vaan's respect. If one of the kids in Lowtown had taken that attitude, Penelo would have had a conniption fit and spent fifteen minutes giving a lecture. As it was, Vaan watched her press her lips together in a thin line and narrow her eyes, and knew she was suppressing the urge to give the boy a good tongue lashing. When she and Vaan walked away from the kid, she muttered, "If Bucco was here, I'd let him loose on that kid."

Vaan grinned.

"Guess we'd better find some more chops," Penelo sighed. "Though I think this whole thing is idiotic."

"You'd rather be back in Sochen Cave Palace fighting zombies?" Vaan asked.

"Instead of dealing with these people? Maybe." Penelo said. "Okay, not really, but _these people_, Vaan…"

"I know. Well, let's get back to work."

"Work," Penelo grumbled. "This isn't _work._"

The group had split up; Balthier was off waiting for them in some other part of the city and leaving _them _to do all this work. Vaan and Penelo had been commissioned to do all the chop gathering, leaving Ashe, Basch, and Fran to go purchase supplies.

Vaan and Penelo's task was all about information. They had to find information that people were willing to give them, and then go and find the person who needed that information. For some reason, doing this deemed them worthy of receiving one of the city's beloved wooden chops. It really made absolutely no sense to Vaan. The chops might be a symbol of respect or _whatever, _but they were useless to him. Except maybe as firewood.

They first found a man who was smitten with his co-worker's daughter, and after a bit of searching, they located the equally-smitten daughter. When Penelo recounted the man's interest to the daughter, the woman practically went into throes of ecstasy. She got all breathy, saying, "This fluttering in my breast--" (at which Vaan tried so hard not to laugh that he started choking, and Penelo whacked him soundly on the back) "--could this be love?"

When Vaan finally gained control of his strangled laughter, he noticed the frown on Penelo's forehead as she watched the young woman in her blissful oblivion, and it was only then that he really processed what had just been said. _"Could this be love?" _Some sensation (he tried really hard not to think "fluttering in my breast," because he would just crack up again) inside of her, and she wanted to know if it was _love?_

"She has _no idea,_" he heard Penelo murmur, and she shook her head and walked away.

No, Vaan mused as he hurried to catch up with her. That woman really didn't have any idea. His eyes lingered on Penelo. When he thought _love, _a million other things came to mind. It wasn't a _flutter. _It was a tired girl losing a night of sleep to take care of a sick friend. It was the sound of hunger pangs because she made sure a child had a full stomach while she went without. It was gentle fingers wiping away tears. It was fiery glares and clenched fists caused by righteous anger at someone trying to take advantage of an innocent victim. It was her healing hands on a battlefield and her small body stepping in front of his to protect him from a threat when _he _had been trying to protect her in the first place. It was shared jokes, crazy schemes, late nights talks, fighting and making up, knowing one another's fears, hopes, dreams. It was hearing her laugh, watching her dance, listening to her rant when she was angry, holding her when she cried. It was knowing that no matter how stupid he was, she would always forgive him. It was unconditional. It was _unquestionable; _there was no '_could _this be love,' there was simply '_this is _love_.'_

A sensation? Sure. A feeling? Fine. But that's not what it was about. Love was also a choice, it was something you held onto through thick and thin, even when what you _felt _was angry and frustrated and tired and you weren't sure how you were going to make it to the next day.

He glanced over his shoulder at the blissful woman worrying over what sort of thing her father's co-worker might like to do, and he wondered if she knew that, if she would ever know that. If she would reach a point where she realized that love was not all butterflies and flutters and flowers. That sometimes it was hard and gritty, but that's what made it deeper; the rough patches were what made it grow--if you let it. Letting it wasn't always easy. Vaan, who had spent some time trying to run away from everyone he loved, knew this better than anyone. But in the end, he had found his way back, and only then had realized that he really hadn't gone too far. Penelo hadn't let him go very far. And maybe that was part of love, too.

"Vaan, are you coming? We still have six more of these chops to find."

"Yeah." Vaan quickly caught up with Penelo. "Let's get this over with."

Vaan and Penelo continued on with the painstaking--and annoying--task of gathering information to exchange for chops. The only highlight of the whole arduous job was when they stopped for a moment to watch a mummer juggling for a group of children, who were all jumping up and down or clapping with glee.

The more people he talked to, the more he was in disbelief at the sheer pettiness of the population here. How could people possibly accuse _him _of being immature? Sure, he might rush into things headlong or say things without thinking, but he knew a lot about other things. It was amazing the life experience you could get from having your world continually ripped apart.

He was especially incredulous after talking to a girl whose father had been so indebted that when a rich man had offered to take the debt off his shoulders, he took it. Even though in exchange, he was told he had to leave his wife, just so that the rich man could then propose marriage to the indebted man's wife. It made Vaan completely furious. Both at the stupid, rich guy who thought he had deserved the whole world--including another man's wife--and at the stupid, stupid indebted guy who had _agreed _and sent his wife off into the arms of another man just because he was _poor_.

Penelo was equally horrified; by the time the girl finished her story, she had covered her mouth with both hands. Vaan numbly took the chop that the girl gave them for listening to her and watched her walk away.

"How?" Penelo whispered, lowering her hands and clasping them tightly together. "How could anyone let gil be so important? All of _that--_all of it so that girl's mother could keep living like _this?_ What is _wrong _with these people!?"

She was working herself up into one of her rants, and as she started pacing back and forth, spilling out all of the frustrations that had been building all day, all he could do was watch her and smile. When her words finally slowed down and she breathed out a long sigh, she pinned a glare on him and demanded, "What?"

"Nothing," Vaan said, hooking his hands behind his head and walking slowly down the street. "We got all the chops."

"_Finally_," she breathed, falling into step beside him. "I can't wait to get out of here. I think I'm even ready to take on the Draklor Laboratory after this." She looked up at him and saw the smile still on his face. "What about this situation could _possibly_ make you happy?"

_I've got you and I know that if some rich guy swooped in to try to take you away in exchange for gil, you'd laugh in his face. And you know I'd do the same. Because we understand a lot more than some people give us credit for._

"Vaan? Vaan! I swear, you have the attention span of a cockatrice sometimes! And…why are you looking at me like that?"

"I just feel--" Vaan said slowly, pressing his hands to his heart "--this fluttering in my breast! I think it's love, Penelo! Oh, wait…never mind. It's probably just indigestion from eating your breakfast."

And he just laughed when Penelo pushed him and said, "See if I ever cook for _you _again!"


	27. Hurt

**A/N: Thank you to Drink. Juice, Althia, Destatikai, horsefreak, koalababay, and Feeny for reviewing. Seriously, you guys, you have no idea how much it means to me when you take a minute (or more) to tell me what you think of these. It helps keep me inspired, too. Right now I've written so many of these that my brain feels like Vaan/Penelo mush. Like, everything starts to seem the same to me after a while. So…thank you very, very much. :)**

**Sorry this took so long. I need some time to recharge for another round of prompts. Don't worry, I'm still be working on these at whatever speed the ideas come to me. It doesn't help that I've also been getting a lot of ideas for a longer story, so my brain's kind of being sucked different directions right now. Thanks for hanging in there with me. :) **

**Right now it's 1:30AM, so...I suppose I should put a "written while exhausted" warning in this one. ;)**

* * *

_**Prompt #27 - Hurt**_

Vaan would never forget the first time someone really hurt Penelo. They were eight years old and playing tag on the streets outside their houses. Though Vaan's legs were longer than Penelo's, she had always been tiny and quick, and she disappeared around a corner much faster than he could keep up. Of course, she'd gotten a head start, too. It was only a moment after she ran around the corner that he heard her shrieking furiously. "What are you doing!?"

Suddenly worried, he put on a burst of speed and rounded the corner to find Penelo, completely fearless, confronting three older boys--probably eleven or twelve. It didn't take him long to see _why _Penelo was so angry. There was a tiny chocobo on the ground, and it was obvious that the boys had been hurting it.

"Let it go!" Penelo shouted.

Of course, these were fighting words to pre-adolescents who thought hurting helpless animals was funny and who probably thought beating up younger kids was even better. Vaan knew exactly what was going to happen before the boys jumped Penelo.

They underestimated her wiry strength and determination, and that coupled with some martial arts training from her brothers caught them off guard for a moment, but she was still not trained enough and she couldn't hold her own against all of them. By the time Vaan plowed into them, Penelo had already gotten a good punch to her face and had fallen backwards to the ground, where the boys immediately started kicking her.

It was terrifying. Utterly, completely terrifying to see his best friend being beaten by three merciless kids, and it sent a surge of fury through him. There wasn't much Vaan could do except try to keep them off of Penelo; he couldn't fight all three of them. Maybe if Reks were there, they would have had a chance, but he wasn't. So Vaan did the only thing he knew to do and threw himself on top of Penelo, covering her small body with his own, taking the kicks meant for her. One foot collided with his mouth and he tasted the tang of blood.

He didn't know what the damage would have been had an adult not stumbled upon them. The loud, male shout of "hey!" startled the older boys into running. Vaan heard their footsteps pounding away, but his head was spinning and his ears were ringing, so it took him a minute to roll off of Penelo and find his feet.

The man who had yelled was running toward them to find out if they were okay, and Penelo was grabbing Vaan's arms, her eyes wide and scared. "Vaan! Vaan, you're bleeding!"

Vaan touched his mouth and it came away wet and sticky, but then he saw the blood in Penelo's hair, noticed the bruise starting to swell her cheek, and realized he hadn't gotten to her in time, hadn't been able to stop her from getting hurt, too.

"Are you kids okay?" their rescuer asked, leaning in to see their faces. "You're hurt--where are your parents?"

Vaan and Penelo both pointed in the general direction of their families' homes.

"Come on, I'll take you both home."

"The chocobo!" Penelo cried, and she turned to the little animal, which was also lying on the road.

The man crouched down beside the chocobo. "Looks pretty hurt."

"We have to take it, we have to! We can make it better!" Penelo insisted.

The man apparently thought it better not to argue with her; he picked up the chocobo, but Vaan, heart sinking, wondered if it was really going to be able to get better. It wasn't stirring, its eyes closed.

The man, carrying the chocobo, walked them back to Vaan's house, which was closest. He didn't want to leave until he knew one of their parents was home, and so Vaan opened the door and let him inside, calling, "Mom?"

His mother stepped into the hallway, concern already on her face--maybe because she heard his slurred voice and realized something was wrong. She took one look at them and gasped, rushing forward and placing one gentle hand on Vaan's face, one on Penelo's, so she could see the damage done to both of them. "What _happened?_ And who are you?" she demanded of the man.

He quickly introduced himself and explained what he had come upon, while Penelo inserted her own very indignant explanation about the boys injuring the chocobo. "So you tried to stop them on your own?" Vaan's mother asked her, a frown creasing her forehead.

"They were going to _kill _it!" Penelo cried.

Vaan's mother pressed her lips together, but she simply told Vaan and Penelo, "Go sit on couch and I'll be there in a moment, all right?"

Vaan nodded numbly, and he and Penelo went into the other room to sit on the couch. He heard his mother and the man talking quietly for a moment, and then the sound of the front door closing. He looked over when his mother came into the room and knelt in front of them.

"Where's the chocobo?" Vaan asked. He winced reflexively as his mother lifted her hands and quietly cast a Cure spell on him, though the healing green light that rushed over him was cool and soothing. The pain in his face and neck and back and everywhere else he had been kicked and punched faded until it disappeared entirely, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

His mother cast another Cure on Penelo before she said, "Your helpful friend took him to Gurdy the Moogle. If anyone can help that poor chocobo, it's Gurdy." She leaned back on her heels. "Vaan, go clean your face and hands. Penelo, you come with me so we can get the blood out of your hair. Then we'll talk."

When they were cleaned and sitting side-by-side on the couch again, Vaan's mother looked at them very seriously. "I know you two only wanted to help, but I want you both to be very careful."

"You want us to just let them hurt it next time?" Penelo asked in disbelief.

"No, Penelo. I'm not saying what you did was _wrong. _It was very brave and helping others is always the right thing to do, but there are different ways to help. You don't know enough yet to be able to keep yourself from getting hurt when you're taking on three boys twice your size. You need to know your own limits so that this doesn't happen again. You should have found an adult to help you instead of rushing into the situation."

Penelo looked down at her hands and sighed. "My parents are going to be upset."

Vaan's mother put her fingers under Penelo's chin and lifted her face. "I don't think so. A bit worried, maybe, but I'm sure they'll be proud of you, too. I am proud of you--both of you." Her eyes crinkled in a smile as she looked at Vaan.

A faint smile crossed Penelo's face and she nodded, but as soon as Vaan's mother left to go make them some lunch, the smile dropped off her face and she pulled her knees up to her chest. She looked sideways at Vaan, and he gazed back at her. The horrible bruise on her cheek was gone, but the memory of her on the ground, being kicked and hit, was fresh in his mind and he quickly looked away.

"Think the chocobo will be okay?" she whispered.

Vaan didn't know, but he didn't want to tell Penelo that. So he just said, "I know where Gurdy is. Dad takes me to see the chocobos sometimes. We can go visit him later and see."

"Okay." Penelo lowered her legs and swung them idly against the couch. "Are you mad at me?"

Vaan blinked at her. "Mad at you?"

"'Cause you got hurt. 'Cause of me."

"No, 'cause of _them,_" he said, referring to the bullies.

Penelo continued to swing her legs against the couch, her heels bouncing off of the side of it, back and forth, back and forth, as she stared down at her lap. "You got hurt _for _me," she finally said.

Vaan shrugged uncomfortably. He didn't want to talk about it, mostly because he didn't know what to say. "It's okay." He hoped she didn't say anything to Reks about all this. He hoped his _mom _didn't say anything to Reks about all this; his brother already made fun of him about Penelo enough as it was!

Penelo finally stopped bouncing her legs on the couch and pushed down onto the floor. She looked over her shoulder and gave him a huge smile. It was a smile in which she thanked him and said she was sorry and assured him all at the same time, even if he didn't really understand it all until he looked back on the memory of it years later. He just knew, right then, that his friend was okay. And he smiled back at her.

"Come on, I bet your mom has lunch ready," Penelo said, motioning to him.

Right on cue, Vaan's mother called, "Vaan! Penelo! Lunch!"

Vaan leapt off the couch, too. "Oh, good. I'm hungry."

"I'm hungrier."

"Uh-uh." Vaan pushed past her in a race for the kitchen, and she squealed and rushed after him, shoving past him just before he stepped foot into the kitchen.

"I win!" Penelo exclaimed, raising her hands in the air.

And even then, at eight years old, Vaan had a faint glimmer of understanding that he would do a lot of things to keep that expression of joy on Penelo's face--no matter how many punches he had to take for her.

:--:--:

"Vaan! _Vaan! _Can you hear me? Why isn't he waking up? I already hit him with Raise and Curaga three or four--"

Penelo's voice cut off abruptly when Vaan suddenly opened his eyes. He was lying flat on his back, staring up at her face--and at the faces of Basch and Ashe.

"It seems he will be fine," Basch said, and patted Vaan on the shoulder before moving away. Ashe stepped out of his line of vision a moment later.

Vaan slowly sat up, looking around and realizing they were still on the Cerobi Steppe. Memory rushed back--a shield wyrm swiping at Penelo, him shoving her out of the way, then getting slammed across the head and blacking out…

"Vaan, what were you _thinking? _How many times have I told you I don't need you to jump in front of me every time something's attacking?" Penelo dropped down in front of him, but he could tell that she wasn't really angry. Upset, yes, and there was pain in her eyes, but she wasn't mad at him.

"I know."

"I know how to fight."

"I know." Then Vaan met her eyes squarely. "I still don't want you to get hurt."

"I don't want you to get hurt, either!" Penelo exclaimed. Then she sighed and her shoulders sagged. After a long moment of silence, she said, "Do you remember that time we saved that chocobo?"

Vaan smiled wryly. "I was just thinking about that. Or…dreaming. Or whatever you do when you're knocked out."

"That day...Vaan, that day was when I--" She pursed her lips and then sighed again. "I didn't want you--or anyone--to have to get hurt because of me ever again."

Vaan looked away from her, but she continued to stare at him, and he finally met her gaze again. "I don't always think about it, Penelo. Especially since you're constantly diving into the middle of danger!"

"Look who's talking! And besides, we're _all_ constantly diving into the middle of danger here, Vaan! I just--I would never forgive myself if something happened to you because of me."

"And I'd never forgive myself if something happened to you and I could have stopped it."

Penelo searched his eyes. He didn't know what she was expecting to find there. He pushed to his feet and glanced around; the rest of the group was waiting for them nearby, pointedly avoiding looking at them. He held a hand down for Penelo, who looked at him for a long moment before she took it and allowed him to pull her to her feet. Before he let go of her hand, he said quietly, "That day with the chocobo? It was that day I knew I'd do whatever I could to keep you from getting hurt."

He saw the startled look that passed through her eyes as he released her hand and turned toward the others. And though she didn't say anything else as she fell into step beside him, he knew that they understood each other. They both understood that sometimes you were the person who hurt for the one you loved.

And sometimes you were the person who patched the one you loved back up again.


	28. Bath

**A/N: Many thanks to Althia, Feeny, Destatikai, Drink. Juice, and horsefreak for reviewing. :D **

**Well…I've wondered and wondered and **_**wondered **_**what to do for this prompt, and…this is what finally came out. Still not sure what I think of it. I'm d****edicating this to Drink. Juice, who waited so patiently for this one--even if you hate it, it's yours now and you're stuck with it. ;) It was supposed to be something a lot more light and silly, but my muse sort of grabbed it and ran in the opposite direction. **

* * *

_**Prompt #16 - Bath**_

It all started because Penelo was tired.

Well, that wasn't entirely true. It was really because she was dirty. And who wouldn't be after a four-day trek through the Feywood? There, the best any of them had been able to do was splash some icy water on themselves, as long as they were quick, because there were some nasty creatures lurking in any water they found. It wasn't exactly conducive to getting _clean. _Not to mention that her clothes were disgusting and sweaty. The rest of the group was in the same state (except, perhaps, for Balthier, who for some reason didn't seem to even _possess _sweat glands).

To make matters worse, the only thing Penelo had to look forward to after that was another long trek through Giruvegan, which was, if possible, even worse than the Mist-shrouded Feywood that played tricks on the eyes and the mind.

By the time the party finally left Giruvegan and teleported to Balfonheim Port, they no doubt looked like something that had crawled out of Ivalice's deepest, smelliest pit. Penelo spent the whole walk into town picking things she didn't want to identify out of her hair. She was exhausted and stumbling on her feet; Vaan caught her elbow at one point to keep her from falling flat on her face. It was with weary relief that the party trudged into the nearest inn and paid for a night's rest. They had more than enough gil from selling all the loot they'd gathered, and though they always tried to conserve their gil and share rooms, they went ahead and splurged this once for separate rooms. Penelo was grateful. While she loved her companions, sometimes all of them just needed a little bit of space, and it was very difficult to get a moment alone, particularly when they were traveling through fiend-infested areas and it was too dangerous to so much as walk out of earshot of the group.

She was even more grateful when she stepped into her room and caught sight of the beautiful tub of hot water sitting in the middle of the floor. It had cost a bit extra for the bath, but at that point, she would have paid any amount to soak away a week's worth of aches and pains. She dropped her bag on the floor and quickly peeled herself out of her clothes before sinking into the steaming water. She breathed a moan of relief and completely submerged, letting it wash away the sweat and grime before coming up for air.

It was only after Penelo had scrubbed herself clean that she sagged back in the tub and closed her eyes, warm and content, but still completely drained. Her exhaustion pulled at her--or rather, swept over her, so quickly that she was asleep before she knew it.

The next thing she knew, there was a crash and a loud exclamation of "_ow!"_ that startled her to awareness. She gasped and jerked, her eyes snapping open, reaching habitually for a weapon, only to find her hand colliding with the side of the tub.

The tub.

She was still in the bath. The water was cold, and so was she. The room was lit only by the last rays of sunlight, which was quickly fading as dusk set in. How long had she been _in _here? Probably not for too long, because the chill would likely have woken her up. She was kind of surprised it hadn't woken her sooner, but she supposed she was just _that _exhausted.

She looked wildly around to find out what was going on and saw Vaan stumbling to his feet. His eyes met hers, and then he looked quickly away, his face flushed. "I, uh--"

Penelo instantly crossed her arms over her chest and scrunched down as far as she could in the water, the last cobwebs of her exhaustion fleeing in the wake of the situation. "Vaan! What are you _doing _in here?"

"I sort of tripped on your bag," he mumbled.

Penelo's own face was hot, and she glanced around, looking for something with which to cover herself. There was a towel on the floor beside the tub, so she reached down and grabbed it. "Don't you _dare _turn around," she warned Vaan, and quickly stood and dried herself. She had to dig into her bag to find her only somewhat clean piece of clothing--a long shirt that she used for sleeping. She hurriedly yanked it on and then planted her hands on her hips. "Okay. Now _what _are you doing in my room?"

Vaan faced her again, not really red anymore, but not quite meeting her eyes--he was embarrassed, she realized. "You weren't answering your door."

Now that she was standing up and the initial shock of waking up in the bath was fading, her weariness was settling back onto her. And she was still cold. Her hair was wet and she was shivering and trying not to show it. Not that Vaan was really looking at her to notice. "Didn't it occur to you that I might be, you know, _sleeping?_"

"Yes." Vaan bent down and scrambled around on the floor for a moment, and when he straightened, he held up a small cloth bag. "I was just, uh, trying to bring you this."

Penelo took it from him and realized immediately from the smell that it was food, and she suddenly realized how hungry she was. Whatever was in the bag, it smelled _delicious._

"You didn't come down for dinner, so I thought I'd just leave it next to your bed but you weren't…exactly in your bed."

Penelo sighed, any irritation she'd had draining away. She hadn't really been upset at _Vaan; _he was used to sharing a home with her, so the thought of walking into her room wasn't something that would have fazed him. She was just _tired _and she was freezing, and the combination didn't make for a very happy awakening. "Well…thank you. For the food."

It really bothered her that Vaan wasn't really looking at her. No matter what they had been through during the years, no matter how many embarrassing things had happened, there had never been any awkwardness between them. They were just too close for that. But she knew, lately, that things had changed a lot between them. That the dynamics of their relationship had been shifting. Maybe for quite some time; she really couldn't say for sure. It wasn't something she really had to think about; it just _was _and it had happened so gradually that she didn't _need _to think about it, but it did have the potential to make some things different--and strange.

It was the discomfort that she didn't like. Setting the bag of food on the bed, Penelo stepped over to stand in front of Vaan. "Vaan?"

Vaan's eyes instantly focused on her with an intensity that made her inadvertently suck in her breath. For a moment, time seemed frozen as Penelo was suspended by the expression he wore. Then he closed his eyes for a long moment, and when he opened them, the intensity had faded, though she still saw the remnants of it sparking there in his gaze. He rubbed the back of his neck and smiled ruefully. "You should eat that before it gets cold. It might even warm you up; you look pretty cold."

Penelo didn't tell him that his heated gaze had practically fried her already; she just bit her lip and nodded. Still, she stood there, hooking one arm behind her back and continuing to look at him. She needed to make sure there wasn't going to be any leftover awkwardness from this.

Her worry disappeared when Vaan tugged on a strand of her hair and said, "Guess I'll head back to my room. I'm pretty tired. But I plan to sleep on my _bed _and not in my bath." He flashed her his normal, teasing grin, and as he stepped out of the room, Penelo knew that he had moved past his own embarrassment. Which meant, of course, that he would now tease her about this _forever._

She also knew, as he shut the door quietly behind himself, that this was only one more piece that showed how their relationship was changing and growing. They weren't little kids anymore. Nor were they exactly the same as they had been when they left Rabanastre. They had been on the brink of something then, but this journey was just pushing them both over the edge.

The room was completely dark now, the sun having finished setting, and Penelo switched on a light before sitting on the bed to devour the supper Vaan had brought her. She glanced over at the bathtub full of cold, dirty water as she ate, and a small smile crossed her face. She might be falling into the unknown, into adulthood and changing relationships and growing desires and emotions, but Vaan was falling, too.

And one day soon they would find their feet together, and she already knew that it would be amazing when they did.


	29. Fight

**A/N: Thank yous and chocolates and candy to my reviewers: Drink. Juice, koalababay, Feeny, and IH8Abbreviations. **

**Again, sorry this took so long; I'm working on other stuff as well and just started a six-part Ashe and Basch story. Plus original stuff and another longer story about to start and...my muse is everywhere right now. ;) **

**And this turned out a lot longer than I had expected. And stranger than I expected. Yay for writing late at night!**

* * *

_**Prompt #23 - Fight**_

Vaan was painfully aware of his body when he woke up. His head was pounding, his mouth was dry, his stomach was roiling, and the bright light was making it all worse. He reflexively covered his eyes with his arm and groaned. _What happened? Where am I? Why do I feel like this?_

"So you're finally awake." It was Penelo's voice, achingly loud in his ears, splitting through his horrible headache. Despite that, there was no way he could miss the pitch of her voice, the obvious anger in it. He just felt too ill to really focus on why she might be upset at him, especially when he couldn't even remember how he had gotten in this state.

He rolled over and swallowed past the bitter taste in his mouth, but Penelo grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back over. "You'd better not be trying to go back to sleep. Sit up and drink this water."

His only response was to grimace and try to shake her off, but her grip was like iron and he definitely wasn't up to his full strength. She tugged on his arm, and he dragged himself upright, pressing his heels to his eyes and trying desperately to fight down the dizziness. He squinted through the brightness and finally made out Penelo's face hovering in front of him. She shoved a cup into his hands and flatly told him, "Drink it."

His tongue was so dry that he sucked down the water in record time. Almost as soon as he'd swallowed, the wicked pounding in his skull faded to a dull ache, and the light no longer hurt. Penelo must have put some herbs or something in that water; the aftertaste told him that much.

Vaan still had no recollection of what had happened, but when he really looked around, he realized he was lying on the floor in his and Penelo's tiny apartment in Rabanastre. The last thing he remembered--what was the last thing he remembered? Going to the Sandsea to check the notice boards. Getting a drink while he was there. He vaguely recalled one of the bartenders handing him a mug of ale, and then…nothing.

Penelo was kneeling next to him, and as soon as his eyes met hers, he saw that he hadn't been mistaken: she was irate. Her eyes flashed at him, but beyond that blazing anger he saw a deep hurt, too. To make matters worse, he didn't even know what was going on and he still felt really dazed. "What happened?" he asked hoarsely.

Penelo's mouth pressed into a thin line. "You got drunk, Vaan."

He blinked at her. "What? No, I didn't."

"Yes, you _did_. I came to the Sandsea after I went to see Filo and found you making an idiot out of yourself."

"I didn't--"

"You promised me, Vaan. You promised you'd never get drunk! I promised you! After all the trouble we saw caused by drunks…"

"I didn't get drunk, Penelo!"

"And then when I came to the Sandsea you had this girl falling all _over you._"

"What?" Definitely no memory of this. Wouldn't he remember if some girl had been falling all over him? Besides… "I got _one _drink, Penelo! That's all I remember! I swear!"

Her mouth pressed together in a thin, trembling line, and she looked away from him.

"C'mon, Penelo. You know I wouldn't--"

"You kissed her."

"What?"

"The _girl, _Vaan; the girl in the Sandsea. You _kissed her._ I_ saw _you_._"

Vaan's blood ran cold, and he stared at her in horror. He couldn't imagine any state in which he would have done something like that. Kissing another girl? No wonder Penelo was so angry. But he still had no recollection of any of it. "Penelo--" He reached out and touched her shoulder.

She shrugged him off and was on her feet in an instant. "I'm going out."

"Penelo!" He staggered to his feet, surprisingly steady. Whatever she'd given him to drink had certainly put him back on his feet. He was still not quick enough, and she was out the door before his hand could close on her shoulder.

Cursing--more at himself than anything--he jumped up to follow her, only to realize the instant he shed the blanket covering him that he was wearing nothing but his underwear. Gods, if Penelo told him he had publicly _stripped, _too, he was going to have to strangle something. Possibly himself.

With his luck, he'd probably just thrown up on his clothes or something. This whole thing was just one big disaster.

He dug out pants and yanked them on, not bothering to take the time to find a shirt or even a vest, but it didn't matter: by the time he had gone out the door, Penelo was nowhere in sight. Judging from the sunlight, it was only just after dawn, and the business folk in Rabanastre were beginning to awaken and open their shops.

Before he could even begin to contemplate where Penelo might have gone, a familiar voice called his name, and he turned to see Tomaj running up the street. _Great. Just great. _

Tomaj halted in front of Vaan and took several deep breaths, obviously having sprinted all the way there. "I heard what happened. I'm sorry, Vaan; if I'd been there I could have stopped it."

"Well, you weren't, and now Penelo just finished yelling at me and took off somewhere."

"I'll help you find her. I can explain to her. This wasn't your fault."

"That's what I was telling her! She--wait, do you know why this happened?"

"I think that's what I just said," Tomaj said dryly.

"Well, then tell me, because I don't remember a thing!"

"It was the wrong bottle--one of the bartenders gave you a bottle that was special ordered by a Seeq, and you know how strong they generally like their drinks. I guess there was something else in, it, too, but I don't know what; no one would tell me. Something that probably made you do things you wouldn't normally do, even drunk. The barkeep is up in arms because he had to go through a lot to get that ale prepared, and it was wasted on, well--"

"Me."

"Yup. Sorry."

"Not as sorry as I am. I just wanted _one drink, _and instead I get something that makes me kiss another girl and--"

"You did _what?_ I didn't hear that part!"

"What did you hear, then?" Vaan demanded.

"It involved tables and singing and--"

Vaan held up his hand. "Never mind. I don't want to know. Just help me find Penelo, would you?"

"Yeah, sure. Let's see. Where would she go if she wanted to get away from you?"

"Thanks. You're already helping." Vaan sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "The thing to think about is where she would expect me to look, and then look somewhere else. But she would expect that, so we should go where she would expect me to look anyway, but then she--"

"Vaan. Stop thinking. She wants you to find her."

"She does not; she stormed out of the house," Vaan protested.

"She's a girl. Girls like you to chase after them."

"She's _Penelo_."

"Point," Tomaj admitted. "Still, she's a girl. And she loves you. Hey, she loved you enough to drag your sorry self home and fix you up even after you were an idiot and kissed another girl, didn't she?"

"Well, yeah," Vaan said slowly. "How'd you know she did that?"

"Because you're on your feet. According to the barkeep, you should be out cold for a day or two at least, and it's only been half a night." Tomaj flashed him a lopsided grin. "And also, because it's Penelo. What, you think you're the only one around here who knows her well?"

It occurred to Vaan then where Penelo might go. "I think I know where she is. If I'm wrong--well, look. You check Migelo's and if she's not there, ask the kids if they've seen her in Lowtown."

"And where are you going?"

"To the aerodome." To somewhere hers as much as his now, the only place that belonged to both of them, aside from their apartment.

Sure enough, several minutes later when Vaan let himself into their personal hangar, he found their airship's ramp down. Suddenly feeling guilty--even though he hadn't _intentionally _done anything wrong--he slowed his steps and walked carefully to the bottom of the ramp. He stopped and listened for a moment, but heard no noises coming from within. Taking a deep breath, he went into the ship and stepped toward the cockpit--and there she was, sitting in her navigator's chair, hugging her knees to her chest. She didn't even look at him; she simply said, "I want to be alone, Vaan."

Vaan sat down in his own chair and faced her, but she still was not looking at him. "Do you really think I would do this?" Penelo remained silent, and Vaan persisted. "Do you _really _think I would do this to _you? _Ever? Intentionally?"

"I don't care if it was intentional or not, Vaan!" she burst out, finally looking at him, her eyes flashing in her intensity. "Drunk or not, you shouldn't--you--I thought--"

He felt horrible now, and he rushed through his explanation. "I talked to Tomaj. He says I was given some special-ordered Seeq ale by mistake and--and Tomaj also said there was something weird in that ale--I wasn't just drunk, Penelo, there was something else in it! That's why I don't remember anything." _And why I kissed another girl._

"What if I hadn't come, Vaan?" she asked. "What if I hadn't been there to pull you away from some strange girl? Tomaj wasn't there to do it. What if you had done more than kissing?"

"In the middle of the _Sandsea?_"

"Somewhere else!" Penelo snapped. "That girl was _trying _to coax you out; you should have _heard _what she was saying to you when I came in. Oh, wait. You _did _hear it; you were just too out of it to know what side was up, let alone whose lips were on yours!"

"I didn't _want _to kiss her!"

"And how do you know?" she shot back.

"Because I would never want to kiss someone who's not you! I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry they gave me the wrong drink. I'm not exactly happy about finding out this happened, either. And I wouldn't have done anything with her. How could I? Drunk or drugged or _whatever _I was, I can't see how I would have ever done anything else."

"Um, _kissing,_" she reminded him.

"Yes. Yes, I kissed some girl I can't even remember. If it will make you feel better, I can drag Tomaj over here and you can lock lips with him for a minute and then I'll have to punch him for kissing you but at least then I'll know what you felt," he snapped sarcastically, because he was frustrated and angry and still felt terribly guilty. "Would that help?"

Penelo turned away from him again, her arms wrapped around her knees tighter than ever.

Vaan threw up his hands. "What do you want me to do, Penelo? There are only so many ways I can say I'm sorry! I can't even promise not to do it again because I didn't try to do it in the first place!"

She shot him another glare. "Great, Vaan. Thanks. That makes me feel so much better."

Vaan resisted the urge to bang his head on his console. Everything he tried to say was coming out _wrong._

Well, fine.

He stood up, and before Penelo could protest, swiftly picked her up off her chair and slung her over his shoulder. "_Vaan!" _she shouted. "What are you _doing? _Put me down!"

Vaan set her down on her feet, but kept a tight hold on her and pressed his lips to hers. She tried to turn her face away, pressing her mouth tightly shut, so he gently kissed her temple. Then her cheek, her neck, her shoulder, and though she tried to stay stiff and angry, he could feel her slowly relenting. It was only then that he again covered her mouth with his, and though she still didn't respond, she didn't try to move away, either. When he leaned back, he saw there were tears glistening in her eyes.

"How about this," Vaan whispered to her; his own anger and frustration had drained out of him and he felt like he could think clearly again. "I promise you that every time I get a drink _anywhere, _I'll make absolutely sure they're giving me what I ask for, and not some drug-laced Seeq ale. Then this will never happen again."

Penelo sniffled, blinking away the wetness in her eyes. "I don't know. I was kind of warming up to the idea of kissing Tomaj." Vaan's eyes narrowed, and she brushed a hand across his cheek. "Kidding. You'd have to give me more than a laced Seeq drink for that."

"I'm so telling Tomaj you said that."

They searched each other's eyes for a moment, and then Penelo stretched onto tiptoes and kissed him again. It was more than enough for Vaan to know that all was forgiven.

Even if it still wasn't his fault.

He had to admit, though, that he was kind of curious as to what Penelo had done to the girl who had been trying to seduce him. As she gave him one last quick kiss and turned to head down the ramp, he fell into step beside her and decided it was probably better not to ask. He'd probably hear about it sooner or later, anyway. This _was _Rabanastre, after all. Which also meant he'd also be hearing about his own stupidity. Repeatedly.

Oh, well. Like _that _was something new.


	30. Never

**A/N: Lots of thanks to you lovely reviewers: Drink. Juice, Feeny, and koalababay.**

**I'd explain why it took so long with this prompt but I've already had to explain it a lot lately so I'll just say: my writing life has been insane this week.**

**This prompt kind of came from the scene at the very beginning of Revenant Wings when Vaan is dangling from the **_**Strahl **_**and Penelo looks up at him with what I thought was a very peaceful--or at least accepting--expression before closing her eyes. And it's also kind of a response to my 'defy' prompt, when Vaan was teaching Penelo to fly and she was thinking that she knew Vaan wouldn't ever let her fall.**

* * *

_**Prompt #28 - Never**_

Vaan was thrilled about the chance to ride an airship, even if it was a passenger airship between cities instead of the _Strahl. _The windows were tall and wide, showing a huge view of the endless blue sky. There were even parts of the floor where he could look down, occasionally getting glimpses of the ground far, far below, when it wasn't blocked by layers of thick clouds. He loved every bit of it.

He seemed to be the only one with such fascination; everyone else had retired to cabins or the sky saloon, to rest or have a drink. Vaan just couldn't sit still. After exploring the inside of the airship, he clambered onto the deck and the view completely took his breath away. He stood at the railing, the wind rushing over him, the whole world before him.

Vaan ran down to the saloon. Balthier and Fran were, predictably, at the counter with drinks in front of them, and even Basch was nursing a drink. He didn't see Ashe anywhere; she'd probably retired to a cabin. Penelo was sitting in a corner, and he hurried over to her. "Penelo! C'mon, you've gotta see this!" He grabbed her wrist and tugged her to her feet.

"I don't know, Vaan. I think I'll just stay here."

"How often do you get to ride an airship? Aside from the _Strahl, _I mean, and we haven't even been able to ride in that very much. This is our first passenger ride; you can't spend it hiding in here."

"I don't--" Penelo's protests were cut off when he dragged her out of the sky saloon.

He barely noticed the wary look she wore as she glanced at the huge windows. He pulled her up the stairs that led to the deck, and as soon as he pushed the door open and the wind hit their faces, she tensed and tugged her wrist away from Vaan's grasp. "The roof?"

"Yeah, it's amazing! The sky and the wind and--you can taste the freedom up here, Penelo!"

"I think I'd rather taste it down in the sky saloon, if it's all the same to you," Penelo said. She took a step backward, but Vaan was too captivated by the splendor, by this tiny hint of his dream of flying the skies, to take notice. He grabbed her arm this time and pulled her through the door before she had a chance to argue further. He had only gone a few steps when he finally realized that Penelo wasn't moving; in fact, she was tense and when he looked back at her, he saw her face was pinched and white.

"Are you okay? You look like you're gonna throw up." He would have worried it was airsickness, but she had flown on the _Strahl _and had been fine. So what was the problem?

As Penelo's eyes darted to the edge of the deck, it suddenly occurred to him that she had always sat in her seat on the _Strahl _and avoided looking out the window as much as possible. Once he remembered that, he recalled that when they had been in Bhujerba, she had always walked around the vents in the ground that looked down far below to the sea. And she had never gone to the edge of the sky city, where many Bhujerbans sat and talked and looked down upon the depths beneath them.

She was scared of heights.

He wondered briefly how he had not known this before, and realized that they'd never really been anywhere high like this until they had started traveling Ivalice. Then he wondered why she wouldn't have just said she was afraid. Maybe not to anyone else, but at least to him. She wasn't going to say anything now, either, and for a moment he was tempted to tease her, to try to break through her tension that way, but he saw the stubbornness in her eyes and kept his mouth shut. He knew why she hadn't--and wouldn't--say anything. She was trying as hard as she could not to let the fear get to her, refusing to utter one word of complaint. She would press on even when she was afraid; it was what she always did with anything that scared her.

Well, she should know by now that he always did what he could to help her get over her fears--just like she did for him. And this was a fear she was going to have to sort out if she was going to come sky pirating with him one day. (And it did not occur to him anymore that she _wouldn't _come with him.)

Vaan was still holding her arm, but as stiff as she was, he doubted she was going to move any farther. It was as though she had grown roots. He thought if he pushed her right now, she wouldn't even bend.

"Come on, Penelo," he said, his voice calmer this time. Just because he was excited, he now realized, didn't mean that she was. That was okay, but he still wanted her to share this with him. He didn't give her time to say anything; he turned around and pulled her arms around his neck, dragging her onto his back. For half a second, she was still frozen and her legs dangled stiffly, but as he stepped toward the rail, she squeaked and wrapped her arms and legs around him so tightly he wondered if he was going to be able to breathe.

It took her all the way until he was actually at the railing before she found her voice, and then it was just a hoarse, "Vaan!"

"Isn't it amazing?"

Her only response was another wordless squeak. Vaan wondered if she had her eyes shut; he held her onto his back with one arm and used the other one to reach over his shoulder and find out--promptly poking her in her eye.

"Ow!"

"Oops." Vaan tugged on her leg. "Are you seeing this, Penelo?"

"Y-yes. I think you might be a little close to the edge."

"I'm not gonna fall, Penelo. Neither are you. Promise."

Her arms tightened around his neck, whether in anxiety or gratitude, he couldn't say. He choked and tugged her arm away from his throat. He stood there for a minute, and only when Penelo pressed her face into the back of his neck did he turn and carry her back into the observation parlour, letting her slide off his back. Turning, he saw that her face was still pale and her eyes were wide.

He just grinned at her and tugged on one of her braids. "See? Told you we wouldn't fall."

Penelo blinked at him, and very slowly, her shoulders relaxed. She still didn't seem capable of speech yet, so he grabbed her arm again and pulled her down the stairs toward the sky saloon, where she could avoid the windows once more.

She'd get over this terror eventually, a little at a time--he'd make sure of it. She had to know that he'd never let her fall.


	31. Fascinate

**A/N: Thank you so much to all of you who took the time to drop me a line: Drink. Juice, Thalia's Muse, and Feeny. Also, thanks to Pixie-Belya for commenting on the story via PM, and also for inspiring this prompt with talk of stalker flamingos. What? I was due for a silly one-shot. ;) And yes, 'tis short, but I wanted to update this once more before I start NaNoWriMo tomorrow. -head desk-**

* * *

_**Prompt #25-Fascinate**_

Penelo stood at the top of the airship's ramp and giggled helplessly.

"Thanks, Penelo, you're really helping."

"What do you want me to do? I already tried using gysahl greens and she _still_ didn't want to get away from you."

"What makes you think it's a she?" Vaan demanded. He held out his hands in an attempt to ward off the wayward chocobo, who only nudged him so hard that he was forced to take a step backward.

"Oh, please," Penelo said dryly. "Girls all over Ivalice are, for some inexplicable reason, fascinated by you. Apparently it's not exclusive to Hume females."

"You--ooph!" Vaan was pushed another step back. "No! You can't come on my airship! Bad chocobo!" When Penelo started laughing again, he added, "Still not helping!"

Penelo crossed her arms and leaned against the doorframe. "Aw, I think it's sweet. Don't you just feel so...loved?"

"I feel _sore! _It keeps poking me! I think it's just _demented; _I mean, we ran into it in a cave. Chocobos don't even go into caves!"

"It probably followed you in there in the first place." Penelo was rather enjoying watching Vaan trying to ward off the affectionate animal. No matter what they had done to try to lose it on the way from the caves they had been exploring to their airship, it had somehow always managed to find them again. Or Vaan, more specifically, since it had taken absolutely no interest in Penelo. Vaan had emptied his pockets and his bag in an attempt to see if something he carried was drawing the chocobo's attention, but had found nothing. "It just likes you. I can't say I really blame her. I kind of like you myself."

"_Penelo..._"

"Yes?" Maybe she was having a little too much fun at Vaan's expense, but she still owed him for the time he dumped ice water on her while she was in the shower.

"Can't you just cast Stop on it or something?"

"But this is so entertaining," Penelo said as Vaan lost another step under the chocobo's nudges. Vaan glared at her over his shoulder, and his lack of attention on the chocobo cost him, as it hit him particularly hard and he fell backward, catching himself on his elbows.

The chocobo lunged, but Penelo was faster. An instant later, the animal was completely unmoving, thanks to her Stop spell. Penelo had caught it in the act of moving closer to Vaan; in its frozen state, it was bent over him, its beak only inches away from his face.

Vaan quickly scooted backwards away from the sharp beak. "What the…? Is it trying to _eat _me now?"

Penelo stared at the chocobo, wide-eyed. "Maybe she wanted a kiss." Her voice was a little faint. Those beaks were _sharp_--if she had been half a second slower in casting Stop…

Vaan dragged himself to his feet and pushed against the chocobo as hard as he could. It moved sideways, sliding off the ramp and onto the ground, still stuck in the same position, but probably not for long. Penelo grabbed Vaan's arm and pulled him inside, and he quickly raised the ramp.

As the chocobo disappeared from their sight, they turned simultaneously to look at each other. "Um…that was interesting," Vaan said, scratching his head.

Penelo sighed and turned to head for the cockpit. "Only you, Vaan."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Vaan followed her into the cockpit and swung into his chair.

Penelo just shook her head. "You know, it's bad enough I have to fight off _girls, _never mind chocobos!"

Vaan's only response was to grin at her.


	32. Desperate

**A/N: As always, many thanks and chocolates go out to my reviewers: TheAngel'sLover, Althia9, Feeny, koalababay, IH8Abbreviations, Drink. Juice, and chiharu-tanaka. :)**

**This one is--odd? I don't know what it is. I'm left staring at it in bafflement, because it certainly didn't turn out how I expected. It was kind of like writing a rollercoaster. It started out as one thing, went up into something else, and then left me so dizzy at the end that I wasn't sure which side was up.**

* * *

_**Prompt #4 - Desperate**_

"Well, this is just lovely."

Though Vaan couldn't see a thing in the pitch black, the sarcasm in Penelo's voice was more than evident. Some of her emphasis was lost, however, when she started coughing from the upheaval of dirt and rock that had put them in their current predicament.

Vaan was too busy coughing himself to answer for a moment. When he finally found his voice, his eyes watering from the settling dust, he said, "Wait, I might have a light." He fished blindly into his bag, rustling around, his fingers bumping into extra clothing, a bag of food, and something he wasn't sure he wanted to try to identify. When was the last time he had actually cleaned out his bag? But there was no light. "Nope, sorry. How about some good old fire magick?"

"Not unless you want us both to be burned to crisp. I don't have anything to light on fire! I can't just keep shooting it out of my fingertips."

"We could use your pants. Ow!" Vaan rubbed his neck, which Penelo had just smacked, no doubt trying (and failing) to hit him on the head.

"Why don't we use _your _pants, Vaan?" she retorted. "Then _you _can crawl around in a dark cave without them and see how you like it." There was a rustling of cloth, and a moment later, a small lantern clicked on, held aloft in Penelo's hand. "At least _one _of us is prepared," she said, a satisfied smile on her face.

She shined the light around, and they both fully took in their situation. The cave entrance that they had come in had collapsed, so there would be no going out that way. Fortunately, they did have a map of this series of caves and there was more than one exit. Vaan pulled the map out of his pocket and held it under the light, squinting at it. "No problem," he assured. He started walking forward, Penelo following behind him.

"Yeah, that's what you said last--"

There was a sudden, familiar rumbling, followed by another cascade of rock and dust. Apparently the cavern wasn't quite finished caving in. Vaan was temporarily blinded, not by darkness this time, but by stinging dust in his eyes.

He rubbed them, hacking up dirt again, and in between gasps managed to get out, "Penelo?"

There was no answer. Still scrubbing his eyes, Vaan turned around and his heart stopped. Penelo had only been two steps behind him, but she was half-buried by rock; the light had fallen out of her hand and was lying on the ground next to her fingertips.

"Penelo!" Vaan threw himself down beside her, heart pounding in his throat. "_Penelo!" _

She groaned, and Vaan breathed again. He grabbed the light and got a better look at her situation; her head was bloodied, but she wasn't as badly pinned as he had thought. Her pack had actually gotten caught under the heavy rock, and Vaan stared it, suddenly dizzy. She had been only inches away from having that large rock crush her back instead of her bag. There were some smaller rocks on her legs. He swiftly, carefully lifted them off of her, half expecting the ceiling to finish crashing down on them, but it didn't. A quick exam of her legs showed they didn't appear to be broken.

"Penelo?" Her eyes were closed, and Vaan called her more loudly. "Penelo! You've gotta stay awake."

"Uhhh…" Her eyes flickered a little, and he encouraged that by talking some more.

"Your head got hit pretty bad, okay? You can't sleep." There was no way he was going to be able to get her bag out from under the hunk of stone on it, so he grabbed one of Penelo's daggers from its cover and cut it off of her, until he could sheath it again pull her entirely away from rubble. "Can you stand?" Vaan tried to stand her on her feet, but she promptly collapsed and he grabbed her before she hit the floor and hurt herself worse. She was barely conscious at all.

Vaan dragged her farther into the cave, hoping to avoid any more cave-ins, before he propped her against the wall and dug into his own bag, holding the lantern aloft while he searched for a potion or an elixir or _something_, but he had nothing. All the restorative items had been in Penelo's pack.

Gritting his teeth in frustration, Vaan took a deep breath and cast a Curaga spell on her. It didn't do much; he thought some of the scrapes and bruises went away, but it was tricky to see in what little light he had. He used to be _better _at these white magick spells, but lack of practice had eroded much of their potency when he tried to wield them. He hoped it would at least keep Penelo conscious. She was obviously too dazed to concentrate on magick at all, or she could probably fix herself.

"Penelo?" Vaan cupped her chin in his hand, looking at her eyes, but they were unfocused and it was obvious she was fighting to keep them open. "It's okay; I'm going to get us out of here." He shifted his bag around so it was across his front, and then pulled Penelo onto his back. He tucked her arms firmly around his neck and her legs around his waist, but her grip was almost nonexistent. "Just try to hold onto me, okay?"

There was a mumbled response, but Vaan wasn't sure if Penelo was actually speaking words. Eyeing the light and the map, he bit back a frustrated curse. How was he supposed to carry the light, the map, _and _Penelo?

He finally hooked the light onto his bag, so it was hanging in front of him (and almost dropped Penelo in the process of attaching it), and then used one hand to support Penelo and the other to hold the map. He studied it for a moment, until he had memorized the way out of the caverns. It wasn't terribly far, but he had no idea what he would do if there turned out to be monsters inside. They hadn't run into any yet, but that didn't mean they _wouldn't_.

He thrust the map back into his pocket and set off with Penelo in tow, carefully treading on the rocky ground so he wouldn't trip and give her another head injury. As he walked, he talked, only half aware of what he was saying, trying to keep her awake.

"…and then you know what he did?" Vaan waited a moment, but there was no response, and he gave his partner's leg a little shake. "Penelo!"

"Hmm?" Her reply was lethargic and dazed.

Fear coursed through Vaan as Penelo's head lilted down against his back. He hitched her up more firmly, ducking around a stalactite and trying desperately to keep from stumbling on the rocky ground.

"Are you listening to me?"

"Uhhh," was Penelo's eloquent response.

"Penelo, you have to stay awake. Head injury, remember?"

"Not…my fault," she said, her voice more than a little slurred.

"Not mine, either," he said, mostly just to keep her talking.

"Your…idea…explore…" Penelo mumbled.

"Hey, you never know what we're going to find in caves," he pointed out.

There was again no reply, and Penelo's arms loosened completely from their grasp around his neck. "Penelo!"

Still no response. Vaan pinched her leg, hard, eliciting a startled noise from her. Her arms tightened once more, and she grumbled, "Ow…"

Vaan slid around some more rocks on the ground, passing a weirdly shaped stalagmite. "Hey, check that out, Penelo. It kind of looks like Fran's ears." He was still trying to keep from panicking, but he knew that even if he got Penelo out of the caves, he would still have to get her to their airship, which was way over by the collapsed entrance. There were elixirs and X-potions on board, if he could only get there...

"Penelo?"

"Mm."

"You have to talk. It'll help you stay awake."

"Mmkay."

There was silence, and Vaan added, "That means you've actually got to open your mouth." His shoulder felt wet, and when he glanced at it, he realized that it was sticky with blood. For a moment, he wondered how he had gotten hurt, and then he realized with a frightened jolt that it was Penelo's blood, trickling from her head wound. His grasp on her legs tightened and he lifted her up higher on his back again.

"What…talk?"

"I don't care what you talk about, just…pick something."

There was another silence, and Vaan was about to pinch her again when she said, "Got letter…from Larsa."

"Yeah?" So far, so good. They were almost to the other exit.

"Said…coming to Rabanastre..."

Penelo was still mumbling, but he couldn't make out the rest of what she was saying. He didn't care; as long as she was still talking. "Well, we'll just have to show him a good time when he comes, hm? Show him that Rabanastre is a lot better than his boring old Archades."

"Can't…tell…Emperor of…Archades…boring…" Penelo slurred.

"Want to bet?"

"Enough…Tomaj…" Penelo breathed, and then fell silent. Vaan assumed she was trying to tell him that he made enough bets with Tomaj, but he couldn't be sure because at that moment her entire body went limp and he was forced to swiftly bend over and hold her tightly to his back to keep her from rolling off. He had no doubt that she had just slipped entirely into unconsciousness.

He was forced to stop and readjust, dragging her into a rescue hold across his shoulders. Her hair dangled in his face, one braid banging against his nose as he moved as fast as he could toward the exit, part of him fearing that there had somehow been a cave-in or something else that had blocked this way out, too. Relief swarmed over him when he caught a glimpse of daylight--gray, cloudy, rainy daylight, but it was just as beautiful to him at that moment as any amount of sunshine.

Once out of the cave, Vaan was able to quickly determine where they were in relation to where they had left the airship. Clutching Penelo tightly to his shoulders, he hurried through the drizzling rain. It took far longer than he would have liked to reach the airship, and his heart thudded in his chest the whole way. What if he couldn't wake Penelo up? What if she wasn't _just _unconscious? What if she had--

But he stopped that thought, because he couldn't let himself think that.

Finally, the airship came into sight. He carried Penelo on board; they were both drenched and dripping water everywhere. He carefully set her on the ground, then rested a hand above her mouth. When he felt her breath against his palm, relief crashed over him. He ran to find the extra stash of elixirs, unstoppered one, and forced it into her mouth. She choked on some of it, but managed to get it down, and her eyes blinked open in confusion.

"Vaan?" She sat slowly up, her eyes clear. "Why are we all wet?" There was still a bit of blood on her head that hadn't been washed away by the rain, but the wound was gone. Vaan went to get a cloth, and when he came back and wiped the blood away, she frowned at him. "What happened--were we in a cave-in? I think I remember…" She stopped abruptly when Vaan wrapped his arms tightly around her, pressing his face into her wet hair. Then, softly, she said, "Vaan?" She pulled back and looked at him.

He held up his thumb and forefinger a few inches apart. "You were about that close from being crushed by a pile of rocks."

Maybe not the most comforting thing to say. He didn't know why he was suddenly feeling so shaky about the whole ordeal. This had certainly not been the first--and likely would not be the last--mishap that one of them had gotten into. He and Penelo had scraped through a lot, no matter how careful they were. Even growing up, they had been surrounded by plague and soldiers, and for some reason, had managed to survive when the rest of their families had not. Sometimes he thought that danger just _followed_ them, trying to taunt them and scare them and then letting them get away in the end.

He tried not to think about a time when they might _not _get away. Everyday was a risk, for everyone, no matter what they were doing. Just because he and Penelo were sky pirates did not mean they wouldn't be in danger if they just sat home all the time. They could get run over by a wayward chocobo. Or their house could crash in on them. Or--

"Vaan." Penelo's insistent voice brought his focus back on her. Her fingers traced down his face. "You're worrying."

"Am not." Vaan took a deep breath and focused on here and now. Worrying would do absolutely nothing. All they could do--all anyone could do--was live a day at a time.

She continued to look at him seriously. "Thanks for patching me up."

He nodded, and then a sly smile crept across his face. "You might not be thanking me when I win our bet."

Penelo's eyes narrowed suspiciously, and she pushed a wet braid out of her face. "What do you mean?"

"You made a bet with me." It wasn't technically true, but what kind of friend would he be if he couldn't tease her after a near-death experience?

"What? I did not."

Vaan simply smirked at her and stood to his feet, grabbing her hands and pulling her up, too, watching for a moment to make sure she was actually completely better. She was perfectly steady on her feet, so he let go of her. "Just because you don't remember it doesn't mean I'm not going to hold you to it."

He turned away from her and hadn't taken more than a step when she said, "What? Vaan! I'm not done talking to you! Where do you think you're going?"

"To put on something dry." He raised his eyebrows at her. "Care to join me? You're pretty wet yourself." His grin became mischievous, and he was fully prepared for the smack she landed on his arm. He caught her and lifted her off her feet.

"You are incorrigible," she told him, but she wrapped her legs around his waist and leaned in to kiss him deeply before he could reply. When she finally pulled away, resting her forehead against his, she whispered, "But I'm still not buying it."

His throat tightened at her heated look, as it flashed through his mind again how close he had come from never seeing her eyes again. His hold on her tightened. "I can be pretty convincing."

She buried one hand in his damp hair and whispered, "You're forgetting I know all your tricks." Her other hand was moving slowly up and down his back, making it difficult to think clearly.

He gazed at her, and the desperation that rose inside of him now was of an entirely different sort than earlier. He tried to give a decent comeback, but all that escaped his mouth was, "Yeah." A moment later he finally found his voice again. "I'll make you another bet."

"You're not so good at this, you know," Penelo whispered in his ear, sending chills down his neck. "You still haven't convinced me of the first one."

"Exactly. I'll bet you that I can convince you."

"You're…betting on a bet? You still haven't even told me what the first one was!"

"Yup."

Penelo leaned back for a moment, still supported on his hips, and a slow grin spread across her face. "You're on. But you're going to have to be very, very convincing."

He pulled her as close as he could and again met her lips with his own. He soaked in the taste and feel of her, kissing her until she was trembling in his arms. Then he gave her a roguish smile and whispered, "I think I can handle that."


	33. Kick

**A/N: Thank you again to everyone who reviewed: Drink. Juice, chiharu-tanaka, koalababay, omegarulesall, and PointZero. :)**

**Credit for the idea for this prompt goes to Drink. Juice. Thanks for the suggestion! I hope you like it. :) Tomaj somehow ended up in this one a lot. I've no idea why; I guess he was feeling the need to make an entrance. ;)**

**

* * *

**

_**Prompt #19 - Kick**_

Penelo drew a few appreciative, appraising looks from several of the men in the busy Sandsea when she entered. She ignored them, searching for one particular face among the crowd. She smiled when she spotted Tomaj on the balcony, and slowly walked up the stairs toward him. He spotted her when she reached the landing and raised his eyebrows at her.

One of the male customers sitting upstairs was eyeing her--well, parts of her--in a way that annoyed Penelo and made her want to cast Blind on him. She tugged on the long, loose tunic she wore and frowned a little.

Tomaj caught her frown and pointedly told the man staring at her, "She's married."

The man still did not move his eyes. "To you?"

"No." Tomaj stepped toward Penelo and took her arm, leading her back down the stairs. "Good grief, Penelo, if you would just get _bigger _a little faster maybe they wouldn't gape at you so much."

Penelo smoothed the tunic flat over her stomach, revealing the telltale curve, and Tomaj said, "Well, _now _you can tell. Still not big enough, though."

A smile turned one side of Penelo's mouth up. "Is that all it will take to make them back off? Being obviously pregnant?"

"It couldn't hurt."

"I think the two months of nonstop puking that I went through might put a damper on that as a long-term plan," Penelo said pointedly.

Tomaj shook his head. "I don't know how Vaan deals with all these men."

"Sometimes with fists," she said thoughtfully.

He chuckled. "Do you want something to drink? _Non-_alcoholic, of course," he said sternly.

"I'll have juice, if you have it."

"Sure thing." He motioned her to sit on a barstool. One of the bartenders waved at her and called out a greeting, and she smiled and waved back.

Tomaj set a cup of juice in front of Penelo and then swung onto the barstool next to her. "So what brings you here tonight?"

"Waiting for Vaan to get back," Penelo said. "He flew to Balfonheim this morning. He's doing some remodeling on our airship and the shop here told them they'd have to send for the right parts. He didn't want to wait." She shook her head and took several huge gulps of juice. "Also, I have something for you." She pulled a folded piece of paper out of her tunic and held it out to Tomaj.

He took it. "What is it?"

"I think you have a secret admirer."

Tomaj stared at her blankly. "What?"

"Someone asked me to give that to you. She sort of ran into me in the bazaar earlier…"

Tomaj unfolded the paper and swiftly read it, blinking several times.

"What's it say?" Before Tomaj could tell her it was none of her business, she snatched it out of his hands and skimmed it quickly. "Ooh, not bad at all."

Tomaj grabbed it back. "That's mine, _thank _you. So," he said, trying to sound nonchalant, "is it from someone I know?"

"She kind of didn't want me to tell you who she is."

"Penelo!"

Penelo smirked and finished off her juice. "It wouldn't be a secret admirer if I just told you, now would it? And I think she's a bit shy around you."

"That's hardly fair."

"Mysteries are fun."

Tomaj glared at her, but then his eyes fell on something behind her, and he said, "Vaan, would you tell your wife to stop being so stubborn?"

Penelo looked over her shoulder just as Vaan reached her and wrapped his arms around her from behind. He kissed her neck before sitting on the stool on her other side. "You think she'll listen?" he asked Tomaj skeptically.

"You might have better luck than me," Tomaj replied, waving the letter. "She won't tell me who my secret admirer is. Maybe you can get it out of her."

Penelo shook her head. "My lips are sealed. You have a lot of admirers," she told Tomaj, "and you never cared for any of them. I happen to think this girl is nice--"

"Aha! So you know her well enough to think she's _nice_." Tomaj crossed his arms.

"Tomaj, I've lived here all my life. I know a lot of girls well enough to have formed an opinion of them," Penelo said dryly. "Besides, a little mystery will be good for you."

Tomaj's eyes narrowed slightly. "You didn't write this, did you?"

She rolled her own eyes. "No." She pushed herself off the stool and stretched, rubbing her hand over her stomach. "I'm going to head home." She looked questioningly at Vaan, wondering if he would want to stay for a drink.

"Hey, I just came here because you left me a note saying you'd be here." Vaan slid off his stool to stand beside her.

Penelo set a few gil on the counter to pay for her juice. "See you later, Tomaj."

Tomaj was still scrutinizing her, as if he could read the name of his secret admirer on her face if he looked long enough.

Vaan threaded his fingers through Penelo's, and they walked out of the Sandsea, heading back toward their apartment. "So how was Balfonheim?" she asked, squeezing his fingers. "Did you get what you needed?"

"Yeah. It was busy; you know what Balfonheim's like. What'd you do while I was gone?"

"After sleeping half the day?" She had been told by other women that this part of her pregnancy was supposed to be the most energetic. It made her wonder how exhausted she was going to be during the rest of it. "Not much. I visited with Filo. Ran into Bucco and Fidget at the bazaar. Took the letter to Tomaj, got hit on by some guy. Tomaj felt the need to come to my rescue."

Vaan had scowled at the mention of the man hitting on her, but he said, "And then you chose to _not _tell him who the letter was from?" He raised his eyebrows at her.

Penelo shrugged.

After another moment, Vaan said, "So you really didn't write Tomaj that letter just to drive him crazy?"

"Vaan, please. I wouldn't do that Tomaj. Balthier, maybe, but not Tomaj. There really is a girl, she really is sweet, and--"

"Aw, come on! I won't tell!"

Penelo pressed her lips together. "Tomaj would bribe you. Or dare you. Or bet you."

"My word to you is beyond bribery."

"But not dares or bets?"

Vaan rolled his eyes. "Dares and bets, too. C'mon, Penelo, we're not supposed to keep secrets from each other."

"You're just too curious for your own good sometimes, you know." Then Penelo grinned. "But that's okay. I was going to tell you anyway. I need--oh!" She gasped and came to a sudden stop, her free hand going to her stomach.

Vaan immediately halted beside her, alarmed. "Penelo? Are you okay? What's wrong?"

A slow smile blossomed on Penelo's face. She had been feeling the baby moving around for a week or two, but so far it had been very fluttery. Vaan had been putting his hand on her stomach every time she felt it moving, but had not yet felt anything. "Nothing's wrong. That was just a really strong kick." Her smile widened as she actually felt the bump against her hand. "Vaan, quick!" She moved his hand to her stomach, just as she felt another big _thump_.

Vaan's eyes widened. "I felt it!" He moved his other hand to her stomach as well, dropping down to his knees so his face was level with her belly, and Penelo giggled at the strange expressions several passerby gave them. They probably did make an odd sight in the middle of the street, but she didn't care. They remained like that for another minute, while the baby within her bounced around crazily.

"Guess it liked the juice," Penelo commented, but she was watching Vaan as he stared at her stomach with an expression of tenderness and fascination.

When the movements settled down to something more akin to the flutters she was accustomed to, Vaan kissed the bulge of her belly and whispered, "I can't wait to meet you."

Penelo's throat closed up and she blinked away sudden tears. Stupid hormones. As Vaan straightened, she took one of his hands again, and they continued onto their apartment in silence, at least until Vaan said, "So this girl who likes Tomaj--"

Penelo leaned into Vaan, telling him all about her day and the girl who had approached her about Tomaj, completely content in the knowledge that she had someone who she could share anything with--who was sharing _everything _with her.

Her hand went to her stomach again, and as if in response to her touch, she felt another thump...living, kicking proof of everything she and Vaan had now, of everything they'd had for years before now, and everything they would continue to have together.


	34. Forget

**A/N: Thanks to my reviewers: Drink. Juice, omegarulesall, chiharu-tanaka, koalababay, and Puggles Master. :)**

**This is one of those Vaan and Penelo and their gazillions of future kids prompts. I've had it written for a long time, but debated about whether to post it, but…well, here it is anyway. ;) Seems appropriate after writing one where Penelo was pregnant, anyway. My family prompts seem to come in pairs. **

* * *

_**Prompt #26 - Forget**_

It was the soft footsteps that awakened Penelo from her light sleep; she had long trained herself to be aware of the slightest sounds, first because the potential for battle demanded it, and then later because motherhood demanded it. She blinked open her eyes and looked around; it was perhaps midday, judging from the warm sunlight streaming through the window. She quickly took in her surroundings; her three-year-old was still sound asleep in bed next to her, but the cradle beside her was empty. She vaguely recalled the baby screaming, and Vaan coming to pick him up, telling her to get more rest.

Penelo rolled over in bed so she was facing the door, and smiled when she saw the solemn face peering at her from the doorway.

"You can come in, Thais," Penelo said to her five-year-old.

Thais looked over his shoulder and whispered, "Daddy said I wasn't to wake you."

"Well, I'm already awake, so why don't you come in?" She sat and leaned against the pillows.

Thais considered that, then nodded and bounded across the room and onto her legs, being careful to avoid touching his sleeping brother. He crawled onto her lap and snuggled up against her.

"It's awfully quiet out there." Which could be strange in their household.

"That's 'cause Luco's sleeping and not screaming," Thais said promptly. "Illie's holding him."

Of course she was. Illie was nine now and was thrilled to death to get to help take care of her newest brother, and Penelo was glad to let her help.

"And Daddy's fixing lunch. And...and..." His shoulders slumped.

"What's on your mind?" she asked, smoothing back his hair.

"Are you gonna forget me now?" he asked suddenly. Without waiting for her to answer, he said hurriedly, "Reks says you will. He says next time we go to Balfonheim Port you and Daddy will leave me behind because there are so many of us now and I'm in the middle. And he says I'll have to go live with pirates and they'll--"

"I think I'm going to have to have a talk with your brother," Penelo said wryly. She shook her head. _Reks. _Eldest of Vaan and Penelo's children, he was the one most prone to mischief, and seemed to feel it his duty to pick on his younger siblings. "Look at me, and listen very carefully." She waited until Thais's wide blue eyes were fixed upon her. "Your dad and I will never forget you anywhere. We will never forget _about _you at all."

"Even though I'm in the middle?"

"Especially because you're in the middle."

"Are you gonna forget Reks somewhere?" There was a slightly hopeful tone in Thais's voice that made Penelo want to laugh.

"I don't think so."

"Are you sure? Because I'll take his room if you ever do!"

"Thais!"

A small smirk spread across Thais's face and she was struck for the millionth time by exactly how much he looked like Vaan. "Yes, Mama?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "You're a little sneak."

He grinned at her proudly and then his smile faded. "Mama?"

"Hm?"

"Now that Luco's born, are you gonna have any more babies?"

"It's kind of early to ask that, sweetie. Luco's still very, very little." Though five was a good number. A very good number. Penelo stifled a yawn. More than a good number.

"Yeah, but Idin was very, very little and then he got bigger and then you had Luco anyway." Thais pointed at little Idin, sleeping on the bed, as proof.

"Are you still worried that we're going to forget you, Thais?"

Thais squirmed on her lap, then heaved a sigh much too big for such a small child. "Maybe. You forgot Illie at a fair in Archades once."

"What? What are you talking about? We did _not _forget Illie anywhere, fairs or otherwise."

"Reks said you did."

"I'm _definitely _going to have a talk with Reks," Penelo said, pursing her lips. "We didn't forget Illie, sweetie. She got mad once when we were going to the fair and hid on the airship. That's all."

"Really?"

"Promise."

"Promise what now?"

Penelo turned to see Vaan standing there, leaning against the doorframe.

"I didn't wake Mama!" Thais exclaimed.

"Okay," Vaan said easily, coming to sit on the edge of the bed. He and Penelo exchanged a smile. "So what's this about a promise?"

"Mama was promising you didn't forget Illie at the fair in Archades." Thais turned completely on Penelo's lap to face Vaan. "And I'm not going to have to live with pirates. I mean, other pirates; not you, Daddy."

Vaan looked mildly confused. "Well, there are some very nice pirates, but I kind of like you living here with us. Why would you think--Reks." It wasn't a question, and Penelo nodded slightly. "Thais, will you run and tell your brother we'd like to talk to him?"

"Okay." Thais pushed off of Penelo's lap and ran out the door.

As soon as he was gone, Penelo faced Vaan. "He's worried we're going to forget him," she said softly. "I think he's just adjusting to Luco being born; he was asking if we're going to have more kids."

"Well, if we do, we'd better have a girl. We're run out of boy names. My brother, your brothers, my father…when we adopted Illie, she already had a name--"

Penelo swatted at his arm. "Vaan."

"Just saying." Vaan looked thoughtfully toward the door. "I think I'll see if Thais wants to go flying with me this afternoon, for a little one-on-one time."

Vaan did that on a regular basis anyway, but things had been slightly more hectic than usual with another new baby around the house. It had been three years since the last time they had done this, so everyone was adjusting to the changes. Penelo nodded. "That would be good for him."

"Will you be okay with the rest of them for a little while?" he asked.

"I think we can manage. I'll just hang Reks by his toes and we'll be all set." She raised her voice at the end of this because she caught a glimpse of her oldest son at the door. "Or maybe send him over to Balthier to put him to work scrubbing down the _Strahl._"

"_Mom_," Reks groaned, stepping into the room.

"_Reks_," she said in the same tone. She pointed at the edge of the bed beside Vaan, and Reks sighed, but came and sat down, looking at her expectantly. "What's all this you've been telling Thais about us forgetting him?"

"Aw, Mama, you know I was just kidding."

"We may know that, but Thais doesn't," Vaan said.

Reks just looked at them from underneath his mop of blond hair. "Are you gonna make me apologize?"

"No, though it would be a nice thing to do," Penelo said. "You _are, _however, going to tell him that you lied."

Reks got that stubborn look in his eyes that meant he was about to put up a fight. "But--"

"But nothing. And we did _not _forget Illie at a fair."

Reks's eyes glinted with mischief. "The story's so much more interesting that way."

"It is _not _interesting that way, Reks! It scares your brother and makes us look like--"

"What? Bad parents?" Reks shot back.

"Do you think we're bad parents?" Vaan asked, looking at him shrewdly.

"No." Reks looked down at his hands, fidgeting slightly. "But--" Then he pressed his lips together and shook his head.

Penelo and Vaan exchanged glances, and Vaan put his hand on Reks's shoulder. "I've got to go to Bhujerba tomorrow morning. Do you want to come with me?"

Reks eyed Vaan skeptically for a minute. "Alone?"

"Yes."

"For how long?" Reks asked quickly.

Vaan crossed his arms. "What is this, a negotiation?"

Reks shrugged a little.

"For the morning, if your mom thinks she--"

"I'll be _fine, _Vaan," Penelo whispered to him.

"All morning, then," Vaan said.

"Okay," Reks said, nodding once. But when he turned to leave, Penelo got a flash of the smile on his face and knew that he, too, needed reminders that he wouldn't be forgotten.

As soon as he was gone, Vaan muttered to Penelo, "I was not that much trouble when I was ten."

"No," she said, grinning cheekily and pulling him close for a kiss. "You were much worse."


	35. Conspire

**A/N: Thanks to my reviewers: omegarulesall, Drink. Juice, chiharu-tanaka, Feeny, and Puggles Master. :) **

**This one's definitely different than the other ones, but I had this idea the other day and it would leave me alone. Though it was originally all supposed to be very lighthearted, it ended up taking a definite turn **_**away**_** from being lighthearted. Oh, well.**

* * *

_**Prompt #43 - Conspire**_

Penelo's parents had been gone a lot lately. Her father worked night shift and her mother had been working late into the evenings. Overall, Reks would not have considered this a problem. He, Vaan, and Penelo were plenty old enough to look out for themselves. And on this night in particular, it gave him time to figure out how he was going to tell all of them that he had joined Dalmasca's army. He hadn't even told them he had been thinking about it, because he had been partly afraid if he _did _tell them he was thinking about it, they would have talked him out of it. He didn't want to be talked out of it. This was something he needed to do.

So it was kind of nice to be able to shut himself in his room for a few minutes, lie on the bed, and mull over possible approaches to opening the discussion.

Well, it _would _have been nice had he not been thoroughly distracted by the sudden noises coming from his brother's bedroom on the other side of his own wall.

It started with a loud _thump, _which Reks dismissed as Vaan possibly dropping something, or tripping and falling to the floor. But this thump was followed by a loud giggle that most certainly had come from Penelo. This in itself was not odd, either, but it was followed by a steady thumping noise that was definitely the sound of the bed--or rather, of someone _on _the bed, making it creak rhythmically. At this, Reks sat up and narrowed his eyes in the direction of Vaan's room. Surely they weren't--

When Penelo giggled again and Vaan murmured something, and then let out a long, low groan, Reks sprang off his bed and ran for his brother's door, eyes wide and disbelieving. The door was firmly shut, but…there was no way they could be doing what it possibly sounded like they were doing, could they? Gods, if they were, he was going to kill Vaan. And then Penelo's parents would find a way to bring him back to life and kill him again. What were they _thinking_? Penelo wasn't even fifteen!

Reks found his hand on the doorknob, but he didn't quite dare open it for fear he was see something that would give him the desire to pluck out his eyes and burn them. However, when Vaan made a loud gasping noise, followed by Penelo's name, Reks settled with pounding loudly on the door. The wretched creaking of the bed did not stop, but Penelo's voice called, "Um…yeah?"

She sounded rather breathless, and Reks gritted his teeth. He was going to kill _both _of them. Didn't they stop and think? He knew they had been best friends forever and he had always expected, especially as he had watched them get older, that they would end up together, but this was just--just not at all the right time for--

"We are going to have a serious talk, so you two had better come out here right now!" Reks told them through the door.

His words were met with the steady noises of the damn bed. He was going to have to burn that too, and Vaan could just sleep on the floor. Or outside. But how would he explain _that _to Penelo's parents? Why was he left to deal with his hormonal brother, anyway? "Vaan, I swear--" Reks began, but Vaan's sudden laughter drowned him out.

"Reks, you can come in!" Vaan managed to get out, as the sound of the noisy bed ground to a halt.

Reks stared at the door in trepidation, and then tested the knob. It was unlocked. He slowly pushed the door open, worried about what he might see. Vaan and Penelo naked under blankets? Did they expect he would be _approving?_

He looked into the room, fully prepared to slam the door or start ranting, but the sight that met his eyes stopped him and he blinked in surprise. Vaan and Penelo were both standing on Vaan's bed, completely dressed, holding onto each other for support because they were both laughing so hard.

"See?" Vaan said, getting a hold of himself and grinning at Penelo. "Told you he'd fall for it." And he started jumping on the bed, immediately starting the loud, steady creaking Reks had been hearing. Vaan wiggled his eyebrows at Penelo. "Though you didn't really have to punch me."

Reks realized then that the groaning he had heard had been Vaan complaining because Penelo had, in fact, hit him.

Penelo joined Vaan in his antics of springing on the bed. "Well, then," she gasped between bounces, "you shouldn't have said what you did."

Reks hit the palm of his hand against his forehead and gave a groan of his own. "What is _wrong _with you two?"

"Hey, you're the one who assumed we were up to something besides jumping on the bed," Vaan said.

"Yes, apparently we're hormonal teenagers who can't restrain ourselves at all," Penelo told him cheerfully, but she leapt gracefully off the bed and walked over to Reks, her eyes twinkling with mischief.

He folded his arms and looked at her sternly. "Was this really necessary?"

"Nah, but it was pretty fun," Vaan said, jumping off the bed with much less grace than Penelo_._ He walked over to her and slung an arm over her shoulder. "Think Reks would feel better if we actually started making out?"

Penelo elbowed him and rolled her eyes.

Reks glared at them both. "Haha."

"Oh, come on, Reks, we were just messing with you," Vaan said.

Penelo nodded her agreement, her smile fading and her eyes growing serious. "We've been worried about you," she told him.

Reks unfolded his arms and frowned. "Worried? Why?"

"You've been acting really distracted and serious," Vaan informed him.

"More than usual," Penelo added.

"Marisa says you've been distracted, too," Vaan put in.

"You've been talking to Marisa?" She was his--maybe not quite his girlfriend, but she definitely had the potential to become that. After he did what he could to protect his family and his home.

"She ran into us in the bazaar earlier and asked us if we knew what was going on with you," Penelo explained.

Reks sighed and leaned against the doorframe, studying Vaan and Penelo's concerned expressions. "I was going to wait until Penelo's parents were here to tell you," he said. He paused for a moment, and then sighed again. "I joined the Dalmascan army today."

Penelo's eyes widened and Vaan stared at him, stricken. "You _what?"_ they both exclaimed.

"The army? _Why?" _Vaan demanded.

"Because I can, Vaan," Reks said. "With the way things have been going lately, I want to do what I can." _To keep you safe,_ he added silently. Nabudis had already fallen. He did not want Dalmasca to fall as well.

Vaan and Penelo were still staring at him in disbelief, and then Penelo abruptly started crying. She choked and covered her face, trying to hide her tears, and Reks stepped forward, wrapping his arms around her snugly and resting his cheek on her head. "I'll come back," he said, his eyes taking in Vaan as well.

"That's what my brothers said!" Penelo cried into his shoulder. "You can't say that! You can't know!"

Vaan kept gazing at him in horrible silence, and then he pushed past Reks and Penelo and ran from the room.

"Vaan!" Reks called, but he heard the front door slam.

Penelo pulled away from Reks, tears still sliding down her cheeks. She sniffled and wiped her face. "Go talk to Vaan," she whispered.

He didn't need her to tell him to do that; he was already heading for the front door, but he gave her a look and said, "I'll be right back."

He didn't have to go far. Vaan was sitting on the front steps, leaning against the railing as if he had collapsed there because he couldn't make it any farther. Reks sat down beside him and clasped his hands loosely in front of him. "I knew you'd be mad."

Vaan's jaw tightened and he swallowed. There was a long silence before he spoke. "You could die."

"We could all die if the Archadians take Dalmasca."

Vaan finally looked at him, and Reks hated the emptiness in his eyes, the fear that was there. "Then let's go! Let's just leave Rabanastre. Leave Dalmasca. There has to be somewhere safe!"

"And what? Take Penelo and her parents too? Run away?"

"If that's what it takes," Vaan said stubbornly.

"Vaan, this is our home. And even if we did run away, do you think that will stop Archadia from advancing? Or Rozarria from clashing with them from the other side? We could end up in a war wherever we go. I'm going to do everything I can to defend our home--and my family."

Vaan looked away again, and they sat there in silence for quite a long time, watching the Rabanastrans walking up and down the street. Finally, he said, "I just don't want anything to happen to you."

"I know." Reks squeezed his shoulder. "I don't want anything to happen to me, either, but I especially don't want anything to happen to you."

Vaan nodded briefly. "Yeah. I know." He glanced back at Reks. "You'll be okay."

Whether he believed it or was just willing it, Reks wasn't sure, but he nodded in return. "So will you. You'll do great. And I know you and Penelo will keep an eye on each other." He paused, their earlier antics still fresh in his mind. "But about Penelo--"

"Reks." Vaan gave him a 'please don't tell me you're going to give me this talk' look, which Reks pointedly ignored.

"I know you and Penelo were just pulling my leg with the bedroom thing, but you understand how that's--it's really serious. Not pulling my leg, but--"

Vaan closed his eyes and groaned. "_Yes._ I'm not stupid, Reks!"

"You just make sure that when you do--you know--"

Vaan looked completely mortified, and Reks half-expected him to cover his ears. Reks plunged onward. "--then you had better have committed to have and to hold forever, Vaan. Penelo deserves that."

"Nothing's happened, Reks! She's just--she's my best friend!"

"I know. You just remember--"

"Yeah, yeah, to have and hold, committed forever," Vaan said hastily. "I've got it." Then his expression turned sly and he said, "Is that what you're telling Marisa? No shmoozling until you've gone through the to have and to hold?"

"Shmoozling?" Reks echoed, chuckling, but feeling immensely relieved because he knew by Vaan's teasing that he was forgiven for joining the army.

"You're not answering my question," Vaan said pointedly. "Are you planning on marrying Marisa?"

"I'll think about that after I'm out of the army," Reks said slowly. "I would like a family someday, you know."

Vaan nudged him. "What, I'm not enough for you?"

"You're a handful, that's what you are." Reks grabbed Vaan in a headlock and ruffled his hair.

"Hey!" Vaan protested, but he was grinning when Reks released him.

"C'mon, let's head inside," Reks said. He stood and pulled Vaan to his feet. "Gotta cheer Penelo up--maybe without jumping on the bed. We don't want to send her parents into seizures when they come home."

They went back inside, where Penelo was waiting fretfully, and she threw herself on both of them the instant they walked in the door, squishing them together as she hugged them both at once. She then stepped back and looked in their faces, giving a brave smile. "I, um, started supper!"

Reks and Vaan exchanged glances, already conspiring as to how to get rid of whatever dinner Penelo concocted without offending her. She could not cook to save her life. "Why don't I help?" Reks said quickly.

With Reks's help in the kitchen, the dinner ended up being edible, and they sat down together to eat it. During the meal, Vaan and Penelo were doing some conspiring of their own. Reks saw it in the way they exchanged glances and nudged one another. They were no doubt trying to figure out if there might be any way to keep him from going off to war, but he had already made that choice. They would figure that out soon enough. And they would be all right while he was gone. They had Penelo's parents, and most especially, they had each other.

Reks smiled a bit at the two of them as Penelo gestured silently to Vaan and Vaan shook his head. He knew that as long as they had each other to hold onto, they could make it through anything.


	36. Trap

**A/N: Flowers and chocolates and stuffed moogles to my reviewers: Drink. Juice, chiharu-tanaka, IH8Abbreviations, Bookworm-Princess, omegarulesall, Destatikai, and Feeny. :D**

**

* * *

**

_**Prompt #35 - Trap**_

It was snowing in Archadia. At least, it was snowing in the town in northern Archadia where Vaan and Penelo had been doing business. Vaan hadn't expected the sudden snowstorm that had come through, though in hindsight, he supposed maybe he should have been more wary. This was a different climate, after all, but no matter how much he traveled the world, he was a desert boy to the bone and didn't expect to get caught in a blizzard unless he was deliberately trekking through the Paramina Rift.

Vaan doubled over against the icy wind, squinting as the flurry of white blew into his face. He almost passed his destination because he had such a hard time seeing anything more than a foot from his face. It didn't help that the snow was piled up halfway to the first floor windows of the buildings along the street. This storm had forced Vaan and Penelo to take shelter in the local inn, as there was too much snow to fly their airship anywhere. Which was all well and good, but they had been stuck there for three days and the snow was still falling thick and heavy. Worse, this town was so tiny that there wasn't even a proper airship hangar; Vaan had had to land outside of town, which mean his ship was being exposed to the blizzard.

He pushed his way into the warm inn, a quaint little place with a fire blazing in the front room. Vaan stopped in front of it for a moment, breathing a relieved sigh while snow dripped off of him in clumps. It was only just past sunrise, so there was no one in the room. As far as Vaan knew, he and Penelo were two of three guests that had been stuck due to the blizzard. There really wasn't much call for visitors to this particular town.

He stared at the snow-covered windows and understood completely _why_ and swore he'd never come here this time of year again. Ever. No matter how much he was being paid.

Okay, well, maybe if the pay was high enough…

He turned reluctantly away from the fire, but only because thoughts of a warm bed and an even warmer body lured him to the room he and Penelo had rented for--however long they were stuck there. He opened the door quietly and stepped in. Penelo was still buried under the blankets, the top of her head the only visible part of her. He smiled slyly and closed the door as softly as he could, but Penelo made a sound between a moan and a sigh. Her fingers appeared, tugging the blankets off of her eyes, though she kept her mouth and nose still covered. She squinted blearily at Vaan. "What time is it?"

"Just after sunrise."

"You went out in this weather?"

"I wanted to check on our ship." Vaan shook his head. "It's half buried in snow. We're still trapped here."

Penelo shivered and pulled the blankets back over her head. Vaan, still dressed in the only thin coat he had managed to procure when the snow started falling, climbed onto the bed, holding himself on his hands and knees over the lump that was Penelo. "Penelo," he whispered.

She pulled the blankets down again and blinked at his face, inches from hers. "What?"

Vaan dropped down onto her and she let out an "oomph!" She wriggled under the blankets. "Vaan, you're squishing me!"

He just smiled and kissed her forehead, and she pouted at him for a moment, but stopped squirming. At least until he reached into his pocket, grabbed the contents within, and stuffed it down the front of her shirt. Then she shrieked and thrashed so hard that he went rolling off of her and onto the floor. "_Vaan! Ahhh!" _She twisted around on the bed, trying to get out the snowball that he had dumped into her shirt, and yelling the whole time.

Vaan just leaned back on his elbows and laughed. At least until Penelo managed to get the half-melted snowball out of her shirt and lobbed it right at his face. It hit with a _smack_, and he was still blinking snow out of his eyes when Penelo's weight suddenly landed on top of him, pinning him to the floor. Her hands groped in his pockets, but he had only brought one snowball and there was nothing else for her to find.

She gave up and proceeded to glare at him. "That," she said, leaning close to him, "was _really cold._"

"Aw, come on, it was just a little snow. It should be nothing to the girl who braved the Paramina Rift in a heat-resistant suit." Vaan smirked at her as her face grew red. She opened her mouth to retort, but before she could speak, he said, "Besides, half the fun is warming up."

"Is it, now?" Penelo pursed her lips. "And I suppose you have some ideas as to how to warm up?" There was a teasing, playful look in her eyes now, as Vaan had known there would be, once she woke up enough to appreciate the snowball in her shirt. Or, if not appreciate it, at least find the humor in it.

"I have lots of ideas," Vaan said in a low voice, and he moved his mouth a bit closer to Penelo's.

Before their lips could touch, however, she stood up swiftly and danced two steps away from him. "So do I. There's usually a fire out in the main room this time of the morning. Go sit in front of it." And she promptly threw herself back into bed, rolling the blankets around her like a cocoon, leaving none for him.

Vaan sighed. It looked like she didn't quite appreciate it yet.

Still, when he shed his coat and stepped up to the bed, she finally opened her eyes, looked at him for a moment, and unwound enough covers so he could crawl into the blankets with her. As he pulled her warm body close, she whispered, "I'm still so getting you back for that one."

He closed his eyes and smiled. "I know."


	37. Care

**A/N: *showers thank you's and gives a chocobo to each reviewers*: Drink. Juice, Nymphadora17, chiharu-tanaka, omegarulesall, Difficile, and Puggles Master.**

**Well, I started writing this prompt ages ago, before I ever wrote Penelo getting sick and Vaan watching over her way back…whenever I posted that one. But I figured since I wrote a sick Penelo one, I might as well finish the sick Vaan one. ;) This one's very different, though. Sick Penelo was very serious, and sick Vaan is…well, not. ;)**

* * *

_**Prompt #46 - Care**_

"Just where do you think you're going?" Penelo demanded as Vaan tried to stealthily creep past the door to the tiny study in their apartment. She set down her pen, leaving a half-finished letter to Larsa on the small desk, and stood.

Vaan was standing--barely--against the wall, gripping the doorframe to the study with shaky hands. "Uhhh…out?" he mumbled, his voice thick and hoarse. He blinked at her with bleary eyes.

"Vaan, you are a mess. You shouldn't even be out of bed." Penelo looped her arm around his waist, grimacing when she felt how hot his skin was. The heat seeped through his clothing and she was sure she was going to break out in a sweat just at his touch.

"I'm fine, Penelo," he grumbled, stumbling over his own feet and nearly knocking her into the wall.

"You're sick."

"I'm not sick."

"Then what's wrong with you?"

"I'm just…uh…"

"See, you can't even come up with some stupid comeback. You're _really _sick." Penelo managed to get him to their bed and didn't even have to push him onto it. All she did was let go, and he collapsed in a heap on it, his legs dangling off the side of the bed.

"Vaan," Penelo groaned, hefting his legs up onto the bed, "you _have _to stay here until you're better."

"But I'm just fine, Penelo," he mumbled indistinctly, his eyes already closing. "Just gotta make some lediverlies."

"Some _what?"_

Vaan frowned and looked confused. "What?"

"I _think_ you were trying to say 'deliveries.' You can't even _talk _properly. Go to sleep. No one wants us delivering anything when you'd pass out and crash. _I _don't want you delivering anything when you'd pass out and crash, especially since, you know, I'm your navigator. I kind of like being alive."

Vaan was sprawled across the entire bed, and didn't look like he'd be moving any time soon. He had probably used up all his energy just trying to make it down the hall, for whatever he thought he was doing. He certainly wasn't coherent.

"Mmm…Penelo…" Vaan said, swallowing thickly, straining to keep his eyelids open.

"Yes?" she asked patiently, leaning over him.

"You're really pretty."

"Thank you."

"I mean, really, really pretty." He managed to pry one eye open and was staring at her feverishly. "You…look good in green."

Penelo's eyebrows shot up and she looked down at her clothes. "I'm not wearing green." She bit her lip and frowned at him worriedly. She brushed her fingers over his forehead, murmuring a Cure spell as she did so. It wouldn't get rid of his illness--Cure spells couldn't get rid of a cold or virus, but it could, at least, ease any aches he might have. "Try to get some sleep, Vaan? For me?"

"Mm-kay."

Penelo waited until his eyes drifted closed, and then crept quietly out of the room. She was halfway down the hall when she heard a low singing coming from the bedroom. She stopped to listen and heard Vaan's attempt to sing a popular tune. He actually had a very decent voice, but he only knew about a quarter of the lyrics, so he just threw in a bunch of ridiculous nonsense to fill in all the missing parts. She heard him sing something about dancing chocobos and a drunk moogle.

Shaking her head, she continued onto the study and slid back into the chair. She picked up the pen and continued writing to Larsa, but her mind was on Vaan and she kept an ear out for him. She had just finished and was signing her name when she caught sight of Vaan lurching past the door again. It didn't look like he was even attempting to sneak, but more like he was bouncing from one wall to the next as he tried to keep his balance.

Penelo stood quickly to her feet and ran into the hallway, but didn't get there before Vaan crashed face-first into the floor.

"Vaan!" She dropped to her knees beside him.

He groaned and rolled over. His eyes were half-closed and still completely glazed with fever. "Owww…" he mumbled.

"Vaan, can't you even stay in bed for _one day?_" Penelo tried to heave him to his feet, but he wasn't helping and she couldn't lift him. "Come on."

"Mm, no." Vaan smiled at her, a very dazed, silly sort of smile. "How about you come down here with me?" He waved his arms at her, possibly in an attempt to grab her, but he missed wildly. He frowned and squinted. "Where'd you go?"

"Oh, Vaan." If she hadn't been so worried about him, she would have burst out laughing. "If I come back to the bed with you for a little while, will you promise to stay there? Or am I going to have to start casting Immobilize on you?"

"Okay." But he was still smiling that funny smile, and he lay back on the floor and closed his eyes.

It took Penelo a minute to wake him up enough to drag him back to his feet, and then just as difficult to get him back to the bed. Once she had him lying down properly again, she sat next to him, leaning against her pillow. Vaan rolled over enough to put his head on her legs, and then he was falling asleep again.

Penelo sighed and ran her fingers rhythmically through his hair until she was certain he was deeply asleep. Then she slipped carefully out of the bed, gently kissed him on his hot forehead, and crept out of the room. She went back to the study and distractedly rolled up the finished letter, ready to be mailed out as soon as Vaan was better.

:--:--:

Several days later, Larsa looked up from Penelo's latest letter with a strange look on his face. The first part of it made perfect sense, but the last part was a bit jumbled and had several very odd phrases in it. He glanced at Basch, then at the letter, before handing it silently to the knight. "Perhaps you can make some sense of this?"

Basch began to read it, and his eyebrows went up. "'Vaan and I are planning to go see a drunk moogle.'"

"Indeed."

Basch continued to read it. "'We should be stopping by Archades sometime soon, and I can't wait to see the renovations in Old Archades. I hope your chocobos are dancing well.'" Then understanding dawned on his face and he nodded. As if it explained everything, he said, "Ah. She said Vaan is sick." He handed the letter back to Larsa and smiled slightly.

Larsa stared at Basch, then at the letter, and then shook his head slightly. Getting a fresh sheet of paper, he began writing.

_Dear Penelo..._

:--:--:

"Is that a letter from Larsa?" Vaan asked as Penelo returned from her errands and sat down at the table with a letter in hand. He grabbed a starfruit and plopped down across the table from her.

"Yes." Penelo opened it, but she hadn't even started to read it when Vaan snatched it out of her hands. "Hey!"

"Ah, you know you were going to let me read it anyway. He's my friend, too." Vaan took a bite of the fruit and dripped juice on the parchment. "Oops." He swallowed and cleared his throat. "'Dear Penelo, I hope your drunk moogle friend is well'--_what?"_

"_What?"_ Penelo exclaimed at the exact same moment, and she grabbed it back from Vaan. She quickly skimmed the letter and then she dropped it on the table and groaned. "Vaan! It was--your song! The dancing chocobos and the drunk moogle and--I must have been putting bits of it into the letter I was writing!"

"What are you talking about?"

Penelo was trying to decide whether she should be irritated at herself or just laugh. She had a sudden flash of the look of bafflement that had probably been on Larsa's face upon reading her letter and burst into giggles. Before Vaan could do more than get out a confused, "Penelo, _what--_" she had stood up and gone over to him, flinging her arms around his head and dropping a kiss onto the top of it. "This is all your fault. I can't think straight when you're sick and delirious." She peeked at the letter and laughed some more. "Consider it a mark of how much I love you."

And she left him sitting at the table, wondering what a drunk moogle had to do with how much she loved him and muttering, "I didn't know chocobos could dance!"


	38. Tongue

**A/N: Thank you SO MUCH to my wonderful, fantabulous reviewers: Drink. Juice, omegarulesall, koalababay, Puggles Master, zettaSTUPID, chiharu-tanaka, Difficile, and Dracorum.**

**Here's another short one-- it took me forever to figure out what to do with this prompt.**

**Happy one-day-early birthday to Drink. Juice!! **

_**

* * *

**_

_**Prompt #6 - Tongue**_

Penelo's glare was drilling into the back of his head. Vaan could feel it without turning around, and he was more than a little irritated. This wasn't his fault. He hadn't done anything wrong, contrary to what she thought, and he couldn't even _explain _that it wasn't his fault right now, which certainly didn't help matters.

He picked his way along the wall of the old mining cave, watching his footing because these caverns were only dimly lit by old lighting tracks installed along the floors. He gripped the hilt of his sword tighter in his hand, alert for any fiends that might jump out at them. He hadn't known when they'd come in here for a job that most of the monsters here had an affinity for casting silence, and they were out of echo herbs. That was bad enough, but the fact that he and Penelo had been in the middle of an argument when they'd both been hit with the last silence spell only made matters worse. She had been mad at him all morning, and he knew why. He wasn't an idiot. But he knew it _wasn't his fault._

He finally grew so frustrated with Penelo's glowering that he stopped and turned around to face her. Sure enough, her hands were clenched on her staves and her eyes flashed at him. He returned her glare, refusing to take the blame for this.

Vaan didn't even need Penelo's voice to understand the look behind her eyes. Her look was just as loud as her words would have been. _We wouldn't be in this mess if you had paid more attention!_

He knew the expression he gave her spoke for him, too; she couldn't mistake its meaning. _You're just as responsible for this!_

_I am not!_

_Are too!_

_Am not! _Her eyes were practically screaming at him now, her hands clenched into fists. He wouldn't have been surprised if she stamped her foot.

Vaan was just as furious, and so he did the one thing he knew would make her angriest: he stuck his tongue out at her. It wasn't as though he could use it for _talking _at the moment, so he might as well use it for something productive.

That _did _make her stomp her foot. She glowered at him for another moment, then put her nose in the air and shoved past him, very clearly telling him how immature she thought he was.

Vaan folded his arms and waited for her to round the corner before following, just to give himself a moment to cool off. Or at least to _try_ to cool off. Then he stormed after her.

As soon as he rounded the corner, Penelo fell back into him. He caught her under her arms and heaved her to her feet, his attention immediately on the reason she had fallen back: a monstrous, globular flan was spinning around, already on the attack.

Penelo hefted her staves the same moment Vaan yanked out his sword, and they both started hacking away at the monster intent on mauling them. It took them several minutes; flans were a lot more susceptible to magic than weapons, and right now neither of them could actually cast magic. By the time the flan sank into a puddle on the ground, Vaan was drained, bruised, and had been electrocuted several times with lightning. Penelo was in similar shape; her hair stuck up at odd angles from the lightning blasts. She collapsed onto the ground, hands pressed to her chest, an expression of pain on her face.

Vaan dropped down beside her as she took huge breaths and grasped at her bag. He reached it first and dug into it for a hi-potion, passing it swiftly to her and claiming one for himself. Vaan and Penelo sucked them down and then exchanged glances. Penelo was wearing a remorseful look now, and Vaan knew his expression mirrored hers. He reached a hand out to her and she took it, pressing her lips together.

_I'm sorry, _her eyes said.

Vaan shook his head. _I'm sorry. It was stupid._

There was a slight nod from Penelo. _It doesn't matter whose fault it is. _She pointed toward the exit. _Let's just get out of here._

He gave a nod of his own and took her hand. She squeezed it, but before she could completely turn away, he pulled her close for a deep, lingering kiss, deciding that really, that was the _best _use for his tongue. Ever.

At least the until the next time they fought and he needed something to do to irritate her.


	39. Charm

**A/N: Thanks to my reviewers: Dracorum, chiharu-tanaka, difficile, omegarulesall, Doctor Kiba, Drink. Juice, koalababay, Puggles Master, Feeny, Destatikai, and QbertEnhanced.**

**Sorry this took so long. Writing all of these one-shots gets very draining, and I needed a break. **

**Credit for the ideas behind this prompt goes to Drink. Juice and Sache8. :D**

**

* * *

**

_**Prompt #15 - Charm**_

"You! You stay away from my Penelo!"

Penelo buried her face in one hand, but she could not resist peeking out between her fingers to watch the disaster in progress. Vaan was lurching toward a random traveler, and only the fact that his arms were tied behind his back and the fact that Basch grabbed him as he leapt forward prevented Vaan from throwing himself at the baffled man.

Vaan struggled and kicked at Basch, and Penelo quickly moved her hand off her face and cast a Stop spell at him. It took her a minute because she had to make sure she didn't hit Basch by mistake. He'd already taken more than his fair share of abuse from Vaan, and had one black and blue eye because of it. She hit Vaan with her spell just as Basch got him down on the ground, and Vaan froze with his legs sticking out at absurd angles.

"My thanks," Basch said wearily.

"You have to admire his tenacity," Balthier said dryly. "Even under a Confuse spell, his worry is over his girl."

"I do not know if admire would be the appropriate term," Fran said.

Ashe stepped past them all and approached the wary man that Vaan had tried to attack. "Do you, perchance, have any smelling salts? Or a remedy?" Her exhaustion was evident, at least to Penelo, who felt the exact same way. They were still a few hours away from the nearest town and the nearest gate crystal. They had no remedies or smelling salts left, and nothing had worked to get Vaan to come around.

"I have some smelling salts. I could sell you one," said the man, staring at Vaan. He was the first traveler they had seen, and from the look of him, he was a hunter.

Despite the situation, Ashe didn't accept the man's first price for the salts, but haggled him down until, satisfied, he walked away with his gil and Ashe dropped the smelling salts into Penelo's hand. Penelo didn't blame her for not going near Vaan, even with him tied and Stopped. The last time Ashe had approached him, he had tried to bite her.

Vaan's eyes swiveled around frantically as Penelo crouched in front of him and opened the bottle of smelling salts. She waved them under his nose and watched his eyes clear and widen, and knew if he had been capable of moving or speaking, he would have been gagging from the strong smell.

She untied the rope from his wrists and waited patiently for her Stop spell to wear off. The others had taken the opportunity to sit and rest, and were preparing lunch a safe distance away from her and Vaan.

It didn't take long before Vaan started moving again. "Penelo?" He blinked at her in bafflement, sitting up and grimacing. "Yuck. That stuff is horrible. Was I Confused?"

"No, Vaan, I just thought I'd open a bottle of smelling salts for the fun of it."

Vaan made a face at her, still blinking in a bemused sort of way. She knew it was rough coming out from under a Confuse spell, especially one that had lasted as long as Vaan's had. It was incredibly disorienting. He glanced over at where their companions were sitting. "Where are we? And, um...what happened to Basch's face?"

"_You _happened, Vaan," Penelo told him in resignation. "You've spent the _entire morning _attacking every single one of us and screaming at us all to leave _me _alone. You even tried to tackle me and were yelling at me to keep my hands off of…well, myself."

"I did? Wow. No wonder I'm so hungry."

Penelo was torn between the desire to hug him and the desire to smack him upside the head. She settled with saying, "I guess I know what to do next time people are bothering me. Just cast Confuse on you and let you go."

"Haha." Vaan stood up and stretched. "_Ouch._" He looked down at his wrists, which were raw from the rope that had bound him, and then at the various scratches and bruises all over his body.

Penelo sighed. "Stand still." She cast Curaga on him and watched in satisfaction as most of his scratches healed. He still had a bruise or two, but he could deal with those.

"Now I'm _really _hungry," Vaan said.

Penelo rolled her eyes and followed him over to the others. "You're _welcome_." She plopped down between Basch and Balthier, and Balthier gallantly handed her a canteen of water. "Thank you," she told him, and shot a glare at Vaan, who was busy stuffing food into his face.

"What?" he demanded through his full mouth.

"You're learning flying and pirating from Balthier; would it kill you to learn how to use a little of his charm here and there, too?" Penelo shook her head.

"Why, thank you, Penelo," Balthier said, shaking out his sleeves.

"Do not feed his complex," Fran told her. "It is quite big enough."

Vaan looked down at his supply of food, then plucked out a piece of dried meat and held it out to Penelo. "Ah kin b'sharmen," he said, which Penelo translated as "I can be charming." His mouth was so full that he couldn't talk properly, and bits of food flew out of his mouth as he tried to speak.

Ashe closed her eyes and groaned, and Penelo stared at Vaan while Balthier shook his head. "Penelo, my dear, I believe Vaan might be a helpless case."

Vaan's eyes remained on Penelo. He swallowed and smiled, still holding out the dried meat toward her--his favorite of all their traveling food. A slow smile crept across her face. So maybe Vaan would never have the sort of smooth charm that Balthier had, but he had his own sort of charm. Not one understood by a lot of people, but she understood it, and really, that was all that mattered.

As she reached out to take the meat from his hand, Vaan leaned forward and waggled his eyebrows at her, whispering, "You can Confuse me any day."

Penelo rolled her eyes again and shook her head. "Your pick-up lines could use some work, too."


	40. Road

**A/N: Thanks for all the lovely reviews: QbertEnhanced, koalababay, omegarulesall, BeyondTheMoonLightTears, Dracorum, Destatikai, difficile, Puggles Master, Drink. Juice, Ninja Mittens, chiharu-tanaka, and Feeny.**

**Whew! It's been ages since I updated these prompts. I've been absorbed in the FFVII world lately, but I **_**will **_**finish all of these. I've only got ten more to do now, yay!**

**DJ--I know this isn't at all what you had in mind when you suggested "what if" sort of things, but this is what came when I started writing. Hopefully it's still okay. **

**

* * *

**

_**Prompt #32 - Road**_

They were five years old and Penelo hit Vaan because he took the bug she was playing with and ate it. He hit her back because he didn't like being smacked just because the bug had looked shiny and delicious, just like one of the candies Penelo's brothers sometimes gave him.

Of course, it was only after he swallowed it that he realized it tasted nothing like any kind of candy, and that even though he was mad at Penelo, he did feel bad when she started crying and wailed, "You ate my friend!"

Vaan, thinking that maybe he could make her stop crying, said, "What if I find another one?"

"It won't be the same!" Penelo sobbed.

A brilliant idea occurred to him. "I could throw this one up!"

He didn't understand why Penelo hit him again.

:--:--:

They were eight years old and Penelo stormed away after Vaan told her that her new haircut reminded him of a chocobo. Vaan was completely baffled. Chocobos were pretty, weren't they? He sure thought so.

He tried to remedy the situation by going to her house to talk to her. Her mother let him inside. "Hello, Vaan."

"I didn't mean to make Penelo mad!" Vaan exclaimed. "Chocobos are pretty!"

Her mother's mouth twitched in amusement. "She's in her room."

Vaan took two steps toward Penelo's bedroom and then stopped. "What if I make her more mad?"

"I think you two can work things out," Penelo's mother said with a bigger smile.

Vaan went to the bedroom and knocked on the door. He heard footsteps and then the door opened. His eyes widened when he saw that Penelo had shoved a hat on over her hair. "Go away, Vaan!"

"But…"

"You're so _stupid!"_ she shouted, and slammed the door in his face.

He glared at the closed door. What was _wrong _with girls? "Chocobos are _pretty!" _he shouted back, and then he stormed out of Penelo's house.

She came to find him later at his house, this time without wearing a hat. He watched her warily when she approached him. She beamed at him and it was then that he realized that girls were completely crazy.

:--:--:

They were eleven years old and Penelo hugged Vaan tightly after he gave her a flower for her birthday. He squirmed a little but didn't complain, because Penelo was always giving hugs and he'd let her get away with it right now since it _was _her birthday. And since no one else was watching.

"I'm going to save it forever!" she declared, carefully filling a cup with water and putting the flower in it.

Her father threw the flower away when it died before Penelo had a chance to rescue it. She tried not to be upset by it, but she told Vaan that she had been going to press it in a book to preserve it.

Vaan still didn't like seeing her sad, and even if he didn't know why someone would want to keep a flower forever, he said, "What if I get you another one?"

"It'll be different," Penelo said with a shake of her head.

"A flower's just a flower, Penelo."

He was confused when Penelo got upset and told him, "You're so--so--ugh! You just don't get it!"

:--:--:

They were fifteen years old and Penelo yelled at Vaan after he punched a boy who had been talking to her after watching her dance. "What are you _doing?" _she demanded, helping the idiot he'd just punched stand up.

Vaan was too mad to answer properly and dove at the kid again, blocked only because Penelo stood between the two of them and snapped, "_Vaan!"_

The other boy let loose a few choice words and stormed off, wiping his bloody nose as he went.

"What is _wrong _with you?" Penelo planted her hands on her hips and looked ready to punch _him._

"What's wrong with _me? _You didn't hear what he _said _about you after he was busy--busy talking you up!" Vaan retorted.

"Talking me up?"

"You don't know how some of these people look at you! Even grown men sometimes, Penelo! You have to be careful!"

"You really think I don't _know that?_" Penelo stared at him and then her shoulders deflated. "I know you're just watching out for me. Reks did the same thing before he…" She trailed off. "I'm just trying to get some gil for us," she whispered.

Vaan rubbed his sore knuckles and some of his own anger drained away. "I know." He paused and a slow, tired grin spread across his face. "What if I just run after that guy and take _his _gil? It would save you time and it's not like he doesn't deserve it."

He ducked when Penelo swung halfheartedly at him, and his frustration faded completely when she hooked her arm through his and said, "Let's go home."

:--:--:

They were seventeen years old and Penelo cried into Vaan's shoulder the night before they invaded the _Bahamut. _He didn't think she was aware that he was awake; she had been using his shoulder as a pillow quite frequently on their journey around Ivalice, and tonight was no exception, except that he'd been nearly asleep when he started to feel the tears running over his skin. Penelo was perfectly still, not shaking with sobs, not even sniffling, and he had to crack open one eye to make sure she was actually crying and not drooling on him or something.

Her eyes were closed but there were definitely tears leaking out of them. He watched her for a moment, not asking what was wrong, because he expected that she was probably just as scared as he was. Instead, he put both his arms around her and pulled her close to him, startling her into snapping her eyes open. When she saw that his face was only inches from hers, she blinked rapidly and tried to wipe her tears away, a feat made difficult because her arms were trapped between them.

"I-I didn't mean to keep you awake," she muttered, wiggling one arm out from between their bodies and scrubbing it over her face.

"Ah, it's nothing new."

Penelo was quiet for a long moment, and then she said, "There's still so much I want to do. I didn't really think…we'd ever get this far…and now that we have…"

"It's not gonna end, Penelo. We're going to kick the stuffing out of Vayne and then we're gonna be sky pirates. You and me, okay?" Then, to keep her talking and maybe _not _thinking about what was coming, he said, "What else do you want to do? Besides being a sky pirate with me and everything, I mean."

"I…a lot of things! There's so much I haven't done! I mean, there's so much I _have _done but--I haven't even ever been kissed or gotten married or had kids or--mmmm!"

Penelo's eyes widened as Vaan's lips pressed against hers for several seconds before pulling away. "There," he said. "Now you've been kissed."

Penelo blinked at him, seemingly at a loss for words, and Vaan realized that her tears had stopped. He also realized that he wanted to kiss her again, so he did. It lasted longer this time, and when they separated, breathing hard and staring at each other, Vaan whispered, "What if I marry you?"

"W-when this is over?"

Vaan nodded slowly. "'Cause it _will _be over," he said firmly. "We'll get through it. And get married and have kids and--mmmph!" It was his turn to be silenced by her mouth.

:--:--:

They were nineteen years old and Penelo was sitting with Vaan's arms wrapped around her, reminiscing about their many mishaps and adventures through the years to Kytes, Filo, and Fidget. Vaan's hand rested on her belly, swollen with their first child.

Filo leaned forward and asked, "When was the first time you knew you loved Vaan, Penelo?"

Penelo tilted her head backwards to look at Vaan, a slow smile creeping across her face. "I think maybe the time he ate my bug and offered to throw it up again so I could have it back."

Kytes and Filo stared at them, and Fidget started giggling. "You two are so weird," Fidget said with a shake of her head. "But maybe if you hadn't had all those crazy things happen to you, things wouldn't have worked out this way."

Vaan's arms tightened around Penelo. What if things had been different? What if their roads had gone different directions? Would it have pulled them apart? Would they be where they were today?

He gazed down at Penelo. "Maybe," he said, more to himself than Fidget. "Or maybe our road would always have led here."

Penelo's eyes met his again and her smile softened. "I certainly like to think so."


	41. Notice

**A/N: Thank you again to everyone who reviewed: koalababay, QbertEnhanced, omegarulesall, Dracorum, Drink. Juice, chiharu-tanaka, Feeny, IH8Abbreviations, and Puggles Master.**

**Not sure where this one came from. I just sat down and started writing, and this came out in about half an hour. **

**

* * *

**

_**Prompt #12 - Notice**_

Penelo huddled in the small room she shared with Vaan in Lowtown and waited for him to come home. She had been waiting for him to come home a lot lately. Sure, they were all busy during the day, trying to do what they could to scrape together gil so they could afford to survive, but lately Vaan had been spending more time away from her. Even when he was _there, _his mind was somewhere else.

Sometimes she even wondered if he really noticed how worried she was. She wondered if he noticed a lot of things. He wasn't stupid; if he was, he would have died a long time ago. But he was oblivious about some things. He was oblivious about her. At least…it seemed like he was. Maybe he was deliberately avoiding her. Maybe he was trying to put distance between them.

Penelo tugged her thin blanket more firmly around her shoulders, her eyes roving over the sleeping orphans on her floor. It wasn't just _her _Vaan had been around less. It was all of them. Running away, chasing his great dreams of sky pirating and freedom.

Freedom. That's really what it was about. Freedom and fear. It was so easy to feel trapped in Rabanastre. The city that had once been wide open, a place of happiness and exploration and lazy days had become a trap of soldiers and greed and pain. Having already lost so much, it was easy to fear losing what they had left.

Vaan was all she had left. Vaan and the orphans…but the kids needed her less and less everyday. Lately they drew on each other for strength more than they came to her.

Some days she thought she could disappear and nobody would really miss her. She knew it wasn't true, really, but on the nights when the shadows crept in and the loneliness threatened to swallow her whole, she found it harder to cling to her hope. Not impossible--she knew if she let go of her hope that she would fall into a spiral of despair and she couldn't do that. She had seen too many people get lost that way. No, it was not impossible, but it was difficult.

She didn't know how late it was when the door finally creaked open. Layabout, asleep in the corner, stirred briefly and mumbled in his sleep but none of the kids actually woke up as Vaan slid into the room, a satchel held in one hand.

Penelo met his gaze for a long moment, and then his eyes slid away from hers. He didn't speak as he stepped over Myro, curled up on her blanket, and set his satchel on his own makeshift bed. It jangled as it made contact with the ground--probably gil. Probably stolen.

Penelo bit her lip as Vaan sat down with his back to her. She kept her eyes fixed on him even though he wasn't looking at her, wanting to grab him, wanting to shake him, wanting to do something, anything, so that he would really notice her. Really see how much she had needed him. Really see how much she missed him, even though he was right in front of her.

Squeezing her eyes shut, she let out a sigh. At least he had come back. This night, he had not been caught by guards, had not been thrown into prison, had not found trouble he couldn't handle.

This night he was with her, in at least some way. Even if she was still lonely and frustrated.

She was startled into opening her eyes when Vaan's hand grasped hers. He was right in front of her, turning her hand over and pressing something into her palm. He curled her fingers over it and then let her go, muttering a quiet, "I didn't steal for it."

As he stretched out on his blanket, Penelo opened her fist and looked at the object within. It was a White Magick license and instructions on how to use Cure and Blindna. She had been setting aside a few gil here and there so she could eventually purchase this very license.

Penelo clutched it to her chest. "Thank you, Vaan," she whispered.

He made a tired sort of humming noise, already half asleep. Tucking the license safely into her pocket so she could study it the next day, she lay down on her own blanket, the top of her head almost touching the top of Vaan's. She reached over her shoulder to briefly brush her fingers over his hair, swallowing past the sudden thickness in her throat.

He might have already been asleep, and she spoke so softly that she didn't know if he would hear even if he was awake. "Thank you for noticing."


	42. Undercover

**A/N: Thank you to Dracorum, QbertEnhanced, chiharu-tanaka, CrimsonPromise, omegarulesall, koalababay, and Feeny for reviewing. :)**

**

* * *

**

_**Prompt #45 - Undercover**_

"This is stupid." Penelo put her hands on her hips and raised her eyebrows, biting on her lower lip to keep from bursting out laughing at Vaan's attire.

He held up his arms, which were covered by a baggy shirt. "This was your idea," he said, wrinkling his nose and lifting his hand to scratch right next to his fake mustache.

"It was not. You're the one who took this job."

"Yeah, well, you're the one who said I'd need to go undercover."

Penelo noticed that Vaan had missed a button on his shirt and then fastened half the buttons in the wrong holes. Shaking her head, she stepped forward and pushed his hand away from where it was now scratching ferociously at the bushy beard stuck to his chin. "You're going to make your beard fall off." She swiftly undid the lower half of his shirt and then put the buttons through the right holes.

"But it _itches! _Have you ever stuck fake hair to _your _face?" Vaan squirmed uncomfortably.

"Vaan, the day I stick fake hair to my face is the day Rabanastre floods. There." Penelo smoothed his shirt. "Just make sure that wig doesn't fall off and you'll do great."

"I still don't see why I can't just wear a cloak over my head," Vaan grumbled.

"Because people hiding under cloaks are way too suspicious," Penelo answered promptly, slapping his hand away as it reached again for his mustache. "You look like you have fleas, the way you're scratching! Keep your hands still. It's your own fault that the bounty on our head in this town is huge."

Vaan made a face at her, and she couldn't help but giggle--he looked completely ridiculous.

"Undercover, Vaan. The faster you move, the faster you can get that stuff off."

A sly smirk spread across Vaan's face and he hooked his arm around Penelo, pulling her close to him. "I like the sound of that. I can take you under the covers."

Penelo rolled her eyes and groaned. "Vaan, forget anything I've ever said about working on your pick-up lines. Just stop trying altogether, okay?"

"Okay," Vaan said easily. "But are they pick-up lines if I already have you?"

He leaned in to kiss her, but his fake facial hair scraped against her cheek and she shrieked, pushing him away. "Ouch!" she exclaimed.

Instead of looking remorseful or rejected, Vaan just grinned and said, "Ha! See? You can't even take it just barely touching you!" Waving over his shoulder, he bounded out of the airship.

Penelo shook her head and sat in the door of their ship to wait for him to come back. It was about an hour before he returned to the aerodome. "All set!" he called to her as she stood up and stepped into the airship. There was a desperate franticness in his voice, and he ran up the ramp faster than she'd seen him move since the last time they ran into a horde of angry cactuars. "And I'm going _crazy!_" He whipped off his wig and threw it to the ground, then grabbed the mustache and tugged.

Nothing happened.

He tugged a little harder. "It's not coming off!"

"I think you're supposed to wash it off with water, Vaan," Penelo said, not sure whether she should be amused or sympathetic. She went for sympathy when she saw the redness that was spreading from where the facial hair was stuck to his upper lip and chin. "Come on. I'll get some water."

She soon found, however, that water didn't do anything to get it off his face. Frowning, she picked at the edge of the beard with her fingernail.

Vaan grimaced. "Hey, that's attached to my _face!" _

"That's kind of the problem," Penelo replied dryly. "Where's the kit you used? Didn't you read the instructions--oh, never mind. Of course you didn't. Where's the kit?"

"It's in our room, but I didn't use the glue stuff that came with the kit."

Penelo stopped in her tracks. "Vaan…"

"It wasn't keeping anything on my face! So I used some of the glue that I use to patch wires together. It worked a lot better."

"_Vaan!_" Penelo resisted the urge to smack her forehead. "You used the _wire glue _on your face?"

"You're the one who said I needed to go undercover!"

"Not with wire glue!"

"The other stuff _wasn't working_."

Penelo snatched his hands away from where he was pulling on the beard. "You're going to make yourself bleed if you just try to rip them off. Let's see what we can do." One thing was for sure--there was never a dull moment with Vaan. Not that she'd have it any other way.

But she really could have done without him touching the blasted wire glue.


	43. Close

**A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed: Automailjunkie, omegarulesall, Puggles Master, koalababay, chiharu-tanaka, and Dracorum.**

**

* * *

**

_**Prompt #29 - Close**_

Vaan loved watching Penelo's face whenever they returned to Rabanastre. It didn't matter if they had been gone a day or a week; as soon as Penelo stepped out of the aerodome, her whole face lit up. The first couple of times, it had taken Vaan a few moments to realize she wasn't walking with him down the street, but was standing still, staring around with a soft smile on her face.

The fourth or fifth time, he had asked her curiously, "What are you looking at? It's just the city."

Penelo's eyes had widened and she'd said, "It's not just _a _city, Vaan. It's _our _city. It's our city like it's supposed to be. I can come home now and it's really _home._ The sounds and smells and the way the people talk--it's all like they're supposed to be. It's Rabanastre again."

Soon he was used to her moment of welcoming--that's really what it was, he had decided. She was welcoming their city and sometimes he was sure it was welcoming her, too. He'd gotten in the habit of stopping with her and looking around himself, breathing in the dry desert air and seeing the way Penelo's eyes sparkled, her smile growing brighter. She was right, really. As much as he had spent the years during Archadia's occupation wishing to flee the city, this was his home, too.

On one particular evening, they flew into the city and landed in the aerodome right as the sun was beginning to set. Penelo was practically bouncing in her seat, a sight that Vaan found _very _amusing, since she was always saying _he _was the excitable one. She jumped out of the airship as soon as it had landed, pausing outside the aerodome to have her moment of welcoming before latching onto Vaan's arm.

"Can you believe it's been two years since Rabanastre's liberation?" She was almost skipping down the street, and Vaan hastened to keep up with her, since she didn't seem inclined to release the grip she had on his arm.

She wasn't alone in her excitement. All around them, the citizens of Rabanastre were moving through the streets. As Vaan and Penelo approached the Southern Plaza, the crowd grew so thick that Penelo was forced to slow down, which Vaan's arm definitely appreciated. The whole area was decked out for the festival to celebrate Rabanastre's freedom. There were decorations, games, and enough shops set up that it looked like half the bazaar had been moved there. There were buckets of colorful pinwheels that hopeful sellers offered to passerby for two gil, and vendors selling colored glass, candies, fried foods, and other trinkets.

Penelo stopped at one vendor's stall to look at his wares--all Vaan saw was soft, silky material and he had a feeling that their bag of gil was going to be quite a bit emptier by the time the festival was over. Put pretty clothes in front of Penelo and--

"Oh, look!" he exclaimed. "They've got roasted pichu nuts!"

They slowly made their way through the ever increasing crowd of festival-goers until Penelo stopped in her tracks. Vaan saw instantly what had caught her attention--people dancing to a lively tune that he could just hear over the shouts and laughter of the people pressed around them. Penelo glanced at Vaan and grinned. "I'll be back!"

She rushed through the crowd to join in the dance, and Vaan pushed through after her to the front of the throng, quickly spotting Penelo now stepping in and out among the other dancers. He vaguely recognized the steps as being some old Dalmascan dance, but Penelo was the one who had learned all of those; anything he knew of dancing came from her.

He grinned as his eyes followed Penelo around the street. He loved watching her face when she danced even more than he loved watching it each time they returned to Rabanastre. Her feet were carrying her in a smooth rhythm, her body twirling and spinning and her long braids twisiting around her--she was a picture of joy.

When the song changed, she broke away from the other dancers, her gaze sweeping over the crowd until she spotted him waving. She ran over to him, beaming. She wasn't even out of breath. "I'm hungry!" she declared. "Let's get some sticky rolls!"

"Isn't that usually _my _line?" Vaan certainly didn't protest as Penelo slipped her hand into his and wound back through the crowd to find a vendor selling sticky rolls. Once they had purchased their treats, they walked hand-in-hand through the city to enjoy other parts of the festival.

Penelo was sucking the last bit of sugar off of her fingers when she suddenly burst out laughing. "Vaan! Look!" She pointed at a brightly painted sign. "They're doing a play about the heroes who saved Rabanastre!" She leaned in. "I think that drawing is supposed to be us…and Basch--well, a guy in Judge's armor, so we'll assume it's Basch even though he didn't wear Judge's armor then--and Ashe…Balthier and Fran…ha! Oh, it's about to start!" Squeezing his hand, she pulled him closer to the chattering crowd that was waiting for the play to start.

Vaan was pretty excited himself--it would sure be interesting to see a bunch of people reenacting their journey to save Dalmasca. He and Penelo worked their way as close to the front of the crowd as they could. Vaan could see the stage, but Penelo was standing on her tiptoes and straining to see over the people in front of her. "I can't see!" Giving up, she instead jumped onto Vaan's back and swung herself over his shoulders.

"Ow! Geez, Penelo, give me some warning next time you do that!" Vaan held onto her legs as she hooked them under his arms. "You know you can't stay up there for the whole play."

"Shh, it's starting!"

Penelo had to get off Vaan's shoulders within the first five minutes of the play starting because they were both laughing so hard. They leaned against each other, trying to pay attention to the play and getting some very annoyed looks from the other people trying to watch it, which only made them laugh harder.

"This is ridiculous," Penelo managed between giggles. "Oh, I'd love to meet the person who wrote this. Don't they know that Ashe wouldn't have been caught dead passionately kissing you after you caught her in your--how did they put it?--your 'strong, manly arms' in the Waterway?"

"They obviously don't, or they'd know you would have beat me senseless if that had happened."

"I think I sense some heated fight scenes between us…maybe they're going for a love triangle?" She burst out into another fit of giggles. "I wonder what Ashe would have to say about this. It's like...queen slander! Come on, let's get closer. I can't see, but it sounds like their Balthier actor is trying to put the moves on actor-me and actor-Ashe. Forget a love triangle; it looks like they're going for a quadrangle."

It was well into the middle of the night before Vaan and Penelo went to their small apartment in Rabanastre's East End, drinking some fruit juice they'd grabbed to wash down another couple of sticky rolls. After all, what was the point of going to a festival if they couldn't enjoy the food?

Penelo was humming a tune under her breath as she set her festival purchases on their table and unlaced her sandals. Vaan took off his vest and flopped across their bed. Penelo spun across the room toward him in time with the song she was humming and then dropped down beside him. "I can't remember the last time I had so much fun. Even if people are going to think I'm a…a floozy thanks to that play."

"A floozy?" Vaan raised his eyebrows at her and rolled onto his side toward her.

"They had me putting the moves on _every single guy _I traveled with. Including Basch! I'm surprised they didn't write me putting moves on Ashe and Fran while they were at it!" Her eyes were sparkling with mirth and she looked ready to burst out giggling all over again. "At least they didn't use our real names." She nudged him with her shoulder. "Besides, we know that you're the only one for me, so who cares what anyone else thinks, right?"

Vaan hooked his arm around her and pulled her body against his. "Right."

Penelo slowly ran her fingers over his chest. "You had fun, didn't you?"

"Yeah." He leaned closer, his nose brushing hers. She tilted her head to the side and he caught her mouth with his, sliding his hands to her hips and pulling her over on top of him. She tasted like sugar and fruit.

She slowly leaned back from him, propping her elbows on either side of his shoulders, and smiled at him. There was still laughter in her eyes, but it was shifting into something else, something warm and inviting. Something like the expression on her face every time she returned to Rabanastre, or every time she danced--it was a look of welcome, a look of joy, but something else. Something that was always there just for him.

He paused long enough to return her smile and say, "Welcome home," before pulling her close again so he could continue to thoroughly kiss her.


	44. Finish

**A/N: *sends stuffed chocobos to reviewers*: QbertEnhanced, CrimsonPromise, chiharu-tanaka, Dracorum, Puggles Master, omegarulesall, Kisdota-The Freak Gamer, IH8Abbreviations, and Destatikai.**

**

* * *

**

_**Prompt #1 - Finish**_

The ocean was one of the most amazing things Vaan had ever seen. It reminded him a little of the Ogir-Yensa sandsea in the way it stretched out farther than the eye could see, but the Phon Coast had something completely different. The tang of salt air, the light breeze playing across his face-it was more water than he had ever seen in his life, and that included the trips through the Giza Plains in the wet season.

Vaan stretched out his legs and gazed around the quiet camp. He had volunteered for first watch tonight, since he wasn't feeling at all tired. He was more than fine just sitting there, watching the gentle ocean waves lap up on the shore, water glistening in the light of the stars. This was the kind of thing he had always wanted to see. He had been so many places recently, and sure, a lot of the time he'd been fighting his way through these new places, but at least he was _seeing _them. At least he was doing something, rather than being stuck back in Rabanastre with no apparent way out, caught in an endless cycle of just trying to survive.

His eyes flickered briefly from the sea to the group of tents set up on the beach, coming to a rest on his and Penelo's small tent, where she was undoubtedly sleeping. Who would have ever thought that they would have ended up here? Out of any likely heroes, out of anyone that could have ended up trying to help Ashe regain her throne and become queen, what were the chances that he and Penelo would have been among them? It was laughable, two street orphans fighting alongside the future queen of Dalmasca. He knew it was, but he just didn't care.

They had come so far. They still had a way to go before this was finished, and he wasn't sure any of them really knew what they were doing or how they were ever going to win this war. Really, they weren't doing so badly. They were all still alive. Though the road ahead might be long, winding, and uncertain, Vaan was more content than he had been since before his parents died. They would finish this. They _could_; he had to keep believing that.

Vaan took a deep breath, relishing the smell of the ocean. The smell of adventure, of freedom, a tantalizing scent that seemed to call out that there was still so much out there to see, still so much left unexplored.

A whisper of rustling fabric brought his eyes over to his and Penelo's tent. She was pushing her way out of it, her thin blanket wrapped around her shoulders, blinking in a bleary, mostly-asleep sort of way. Without speaking, she stumbled over to Vaan and promptly collapsed beside him. She curled up on the sand with her head in his lap, her face turned out toward the sea. Not that she was looking at it; when Vaan peered down at her, it was to see her eyes were closed.

Vaan picked up one of Penelo's braids and tickled her nose with the end of it. She swatted at his hand and mumbled, "Stop it." She wriggled her body closer to him and yawned.

"Something wrong with the tent?" he asked, brushing her braid across her cheek.

Penelo grabbed her braid and pulled it out of his grasp without opening her eyes. "It's nice out here. Our tent smells like everything from the Golmore Jungle to Raithwall's Tomb."

Vaan propped his hands on the sand beside him. "Yeah." He fell silent for a moment. "Hey, Penelo."

"Hmm?"

"Are you okay?"

He could see her frown and then her eye cracked open and she squinted at him. "What do you mean? Do I seem _not _okay?"

"Well, no…"

"Then what's up?"

"Nothing." He wasn't entirely sure how to put it to words. He wasn't sure if he _needed_ to put it to words. It was just that...Penelo hadn't been the one who had wanted to travel; he had been the one who had wanted to leave Rabanastre.

Penelo poked his leg. "It's something." She paused. "I'm glad I'm here, Vaan."

He wondered for half a second if he had said something aloud, and then realized that he hadn't-Penelo just knew him that well. "You don't wish you were back in Rabanastre?"

"I want Rabanastre to be _our _Rabanastre again. If this is what it takes to get our city back, then this is where I'd rather be." She yawned again, and they were both quiet. Her eyes drifted closed, and she murmured, "Besides, this is where you are. That's where I'll always be."

He stared down at her without speaking, and a smile tugged up one corner of his mouth. He reached over and tugged Penelo's blanket more thoroughly over her bare legs, and she sighed against his thigh. Within a few minutes, her breathing had turned slow and steady. He could feel the rise and fall of her chest, almost in perfect timing with the ocean waves gently lapping the shore.


	45. Admit

**A/N: Many thanks again to my fantastic reviewers: Kisdota-The Freak Gamer, QbertEnhanced, koalababay, Dracorum, omegarulesall, chiharu-tanaka, Automailjunkie44, Puggles Master, and Myrdle.**

**I only have five prompts left to write for Vaan/Penelo now! Yay!!**

**

* * *

**

_**Prompt #37 - Admit**_

Penelo put her hands on her hips and looked slowly and deliberately at Johm, Bucco, and Fidget in turn as they stood in her and Vaan's small room in Lowtown. They all exchanged glances with each other and then stared back at her, their expressions ranging from Fidget's guilty look to Bucco's outright mischievous one.

"Well?" Penelo said expectantly.

One of the hard things about keeping an eye on almost a dozen orphans was making sure to the best of her ability that those orphans stayed alive and safe in a city inhabited with soldiers who had killed a lot of their parents. Penelo had a hard enough time making sure Vaan stayed out of trouble, and he was six months older than she was. Trying to watch out for a group of seven- to ten-year-olds was even more of a challenge. She was an odd cross between a mother figure and a big sister to them. She certainly hadn't ever anticipated being either at sixteen, but she was here, and if these kids could come to her for advice when they needed it, then she was going to give them advice even when they didn't ask for it and probably didn't want it.

Fidget nervously scratched the back of one leg with her opposite foot. Johm readjusted the hat on his head. Bucco stuck his hands in his pockets and blinked at Penelo with wide, guileless eyes.

Penelo wasn't fooled by any of them. She knew them too well. "Are any of you going to tell me why you were being chased by Imperials? Johm," she said sharply.

Johm jumped and knocked his hat off his head. He snatched it up off the ground and looked at Penelo.

"Were you picking pockets again?" she demanded.

Johm set his hat back on his head. "Not the soldiers'. I ain't stupid."

"Did they catch you stealing from someone else?" Penelo asked swiftly.

"No." Johm snorted.

That was all she was going to get him to admit. Short answers, nothing that told her why she had just stumbled across them being chased by Archadian soldiers. She'd very nearly been arrested herself for "accidentally" getting in the path of the soldiers to keep them from catching the kids.

She frowned at the three of them. Johm was the one normally given to picking pockets, anyway. Bucco usually opted for his quick talking to get gil out of people. And Fidget--well, she hadn't earned her nickname for nothing. She wasn't any good at stealing, and Penelo was rather relieved by that. The less any of the kids were stealing, the easier she breathed. "Fidget," she said, turning her attention to the girl.

Fidget twirled a strand of short hair around her fingers and tried to look innocent. "Yes?"

"You hardly ever go out into the city. Why did you leave Lowtown?" Penelo asked.

"Bucco asked me to," Fidget said promptly.

Penelo pursed her lips in exasperation. "Bucco?" She faced the boy.

She was not at all surprised when all she got from him was a smirk. "Yeah, Penelo?"

"Are you going to tell me why you had Imperial soldiers chasing you?"

"Nope," Bucco said cheerfully.

"This is not something that's _funny, _Bucco," Penelo said sternly. "You think it would be fun if you were caught by Imperials? _I _was almost grabbed by them today because of whatever upset them! I know what the soldiers are like, but I don't think you were just in the wrong place in the wrong time. You're hiding _something, _and if you're doing things that could get you hurt--"

Bucco, Johm, and Fidget all had the decency to look a little bit ashamed.

There was a tug on the back of Penelo's clothes, and she swiveled. "What?" Her voice came out sharper than she had intended, and she had an instant surge of regret when she saw that it was Myro who had crept up behind her.

The little girl's eyes widened. Penelo's expression gentled and she glanced back at her three culprits. "I had better not catch you three getting into any more trouble," she told them firmly.

"We won't," they all chorused. They made their escape before Penelo could question them further on their actions.

Myro was biting her lip now, watching Penelo with big eyes and fiddling with one pigtail. Even when Vaan and Penelo had first met Myro, she had been incredibly soft-spoken, with only the occasional word coming out of her mouth. Ever since witnessing the bloody riot on the streets of Rabanastre two months earlier, her quietness had turned to complete silence. She hadn't spoken a word since then.

"Sorry, Myro," Penelo said softly. "Do you need something? I thought you were with Filo."

Myro held out a piece of paper to Penelo. Penelo took it from her fingers. It was a note written in a child's handwriting--Filo's, if she wasn't mistaken: _Warehouse 5. _

"Why do I need to go to the warehouse?" she asked, though she knew Myro wouldn't answer.

Sure enough, Myro just gave her the tiniest smile and ran back out the door. Penelo heard giggles which she recognized as Filo's, and walked out the door just in time to see Filo running down the street, tugging Myro behind her.

Penelo glanced again at the note in her hands and shook her head. Maybe it wasn't just Bucco, Johm, and Fidget who were up to something. Maybe all of the kids were scheming and Penelo had just happened to stumble into the middle of it. She was torn between curiosity and frustration. Whatever they were doing, they had still come too close to getting in trouble with the soldiers for her liking.

She sighed and rubbed her temples. It just wasn't easy. Living this life, walking on edge all the time, always worrying about what could befall the people she cared about. She was doing everything she could to scrounge out a life. She didn't just want to survive. She couldn't. She had to go on believing that she had a future that was worth something. That they all had a future worth something. She wouldn't admit it--not to herself, not to Vaan, and certainly not to the children who looked up to them--but sometimes she had trouble seeing anything beyond the dim streets of Lowtown.

Penelo looked away from the note and sighed wistfully. Life hadn't been simple for her in a very, very long time.

She left the small room and headed toward the warehouse. When she got there, Filo was standing at the entrance, and Vaan was facing her, looking confused.

"Oh, good!" Filo clapped her hands together and shouted over her shoulder, "Vaan and Penelo are both here!"

"Two more minutes!" Kytes' voice called back.

Filo grinned at Vaan and Penelo. "Sorry, two more minutes."

Vaan moved over to stand next to Penelo, whispering, "Do you know what this is about?"

"No, except that Johm, Bucco, and Fidget ran into some trouble with soldiers and wouldn't tell me why," Penelo replied.

"Riby just told me I needed to come here and then took off like his feet were on fire," Vaan said with a shrug.

"I got a note from Myro and Filo."

Vaan's eyebrows rose. "I wonder what they're up to?"

"Okay!" Kytes finally called to Filo.

Filo bounced on her toes and grabbed Vaan and Penelo by their hands, tugging them into the warehouse. The first thing Penelo saw was all of the kids; every child that Vaan and Penelo watched out for was gathered inside the warehouse. The next thing she saw was the blanket spread across the ground--it was one of the blankets the kids slept on at night--but right now it was covered in food. Not the normal scraps of cold food, bread, and the occasional fruit and vegetable, but hot meat, soup of some sort, and a few dishes that Penelo recognized as traditional Rabanastran meals her mother had once made. There were streamers strung across the room and a colorful banner that read _Vaan and Penelo_, with childish drawings of them beside their names.

Penelo covered her mouth with her hand, and Vaan's jaw dropped open. Lowering her hand, Penelo said, "What's all _this?_"

"Dinner!" Riby exclaimed. "We spent _all day _getting everything we needed."

Fidget hopped back and forth on her feet. "That's why the soldiers were mad at us, Penelo! 'Cause we were trying to buy some of stuff at the bazaar and they thought we were stealing, even though we were _paying _for the food--"

"--with stolen gil," Bucco said in an undertone, and Filo stepped on his toes. "Ow!"

"The soldiers would've taken all our stuff even though we paid for it!" Fidget said. "So we gave it all to Riby and _he _took it away while we distracted the soldiers and he ran away. But…it kinda didn't work out like we thought, 'cause then we got you in trouble." She looked at Penelo, a little shame-faced.

Penelo stared at her. "That's what all the fuss was about earlier? Why didn't you just _tell _me?" She was feeling a little bad about her lecture now.

"'Cause if we'd told you they were chasing us for something we bought, you would've wanted to know what we were buying," Johm explained.

Penelo opened her mouth to protest that logic, but then she stopped and shook her head. "I…don't know what to say. Why…?" She waved her hand at the decorated warehouse. The smells of the food were tickling her nose and making her mouth water.

"'Cause you're always doing stuff for us," Kytes said with a shrug. "We wanted to do something for you."

"Migelo let us use his kitchen and helped us figure out how to make all this stuff," Filo added. "Actually…he kind of did a lot of it, but we got all the ingredients and stuff!"

"C'mon, it's gonna get cold!" Fussbudget told them.

Vaan didn't need to be told twice. He stepped forward, but grabbed Kytes in a headlock and ruffled his hair affectionately before plopping down in front of the food.

Penelo put one arm around Johm and the other around Fidget. "There's plenty here for you guys, too."

"Yeah, we were kind of counting on that." Bucco gave them a cheeky grin and dropped down beside Vaan.

As Penelo settled down with all of the other kids and the dishes were passed around, the warehouse filled with the sounds of happy laughter and teasing remarks. Penelo sat with food in her lap and smiled around at the kids, and then met Vaan's eyes. His mouth was full, but he grinned at her.

Her smile widened as Myro slipped into Vaan's lap, forcing him to reach his food around her. He didn't seem to mind; he just tugged lightly on one of Myro's pigtails and handed her another roll before shoving another bite of food into his mouth.

Maybe her life was hard and exhausting, and maybe sometimes she couldn't see a way out of it, but it was the times like this that made her realize that life was always worth something. The Archadians may have taken her family and her home, but if she kept pressing forward, there was always a chance for something better.

And sometimes, maybe something better could sneak up on her when she least expected it.


	46. Nothing

**A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed: QbertEnhanced, Kisdota-The Freak Gamer, omegarulesall, Feeny, chiharu-tanaka, Dracorum, XFamousXLastXWordsX, CrimsonPromise, koalababay, and Puggles Master.**

**Very short one here. ;)**

**

* * *

**

_**Prompt #2 - Nothing**_

Penelo turned slowly on the spot, taking in the empty loft. She wasn't even sure she could speak. This somehow just seemed incredibly surreal. The owner of the building had said the upstairs apartment she was renting out was small. To Penelo, who had spent two years crammed into a tiny room in Lowtown with Vaan and various children, followed by months of traveling the world, sleeping in tents and inns, it was enormous. A kitchen took up a third of the space, but there was still plenty of room for furniture.

Her eyes went to the kitchen. There was an actual _stove, _and a refrigerator, and a sink with running water. As she opened the two doors off of the large loft room, she discovered a closet with shelves and a bathroom with a large bathtub.

Penelo was so caught up in staring at the huge tub that it took her a moment to realize the owner was talking. "--the perfect size for a young couple just starting out," she was saying, waving her arm around the small apartment. "What do you think?"

"We'll take it," Penelo said before Vaan could even open his mouth. "Right, Vaan?"

Vaan locked eyes with hers, a smile spreading across his face. "Yeah."

They worked out the details with the owner, paying her two months rent up front. She left satisfied, telling them the place was all theirs.

Penelo wandered over to one of the windows, looking out at the busy street, watching people going about their daily errands. Her gaze drifted up to the bright blue sky and a peaceful smile settled on her face. Vaan came over to stand beside her, and she put her arms around him. "Thank you, Vaan. This place is beautiful."

She knew that he would probably have been happy just living out of their airship; she was the one who had wanted a residence in Rabanastre, somewhere to call home when they weren't flying. Vaan had always been the one reaching for the sky and bringing her to new heights; Penelo had always been the one who kept them both grounded. Maybe it was the combination that had kept them both going over the years. It had kept them on their feet, but at the same time had allowed them to move forward.

Just as the airship was the symbol of everything Vaan had wanted, this loft was the same for Penelo. Just being able to have windows to look out was a novelty after living in Lowtown. That she could have a kitchen, that she would be able to get a real bed and not just a blanket on the floor--they weren't important things, and she knew that was perfectly capable of living without them, but it meant something that she had the _option _of having them. This was her look at freedom, physical proof that Rabanastre was liberated. Proof that two street orphans who should have meant nothing in the grand scheme of _anything_ could make a difference. That they could have a life even after all the losses and tragedies and battles.

Penelo sighed in contentment, resting her head on Vaan's shoulder. They stood gazing out the window together, arms around each other, and she knew that it all would have meant nothing if she didn't still have Vaan to share it with her.


	47. Direction

**A/N: Thank you soooo much to you lovely reviewers: Kisdota-The Freak Gamer, omegarulesall, QbertEnhanced, koalababay, Althia9, Dracorum, chiharu-tanaka, difficile, larnelo girl, and Puggles Master.**

**This prompt came about because I was thinking that you never know what random strangers you'll meet along life's path.**

* * *

_**Prompt #31 - Direction**_

"This isn't Narith." Vaan stared out the window of their airship. Even in the darkness of night, he could see enough to realize they were flying over fields, not the large city in western Archadia. "Penelo?"

"I know!" Penelo frowned at her navigation screen. "It says we're at the right coordinates, though."

"Could you maybe have put in the wrong coordinates?" Vaan regretted asking the question the instant Penelo whipped around to stare at him.

"Vaan, I've been navigating this ship for a _year_; I know how to input the right coordinates!"

"Well, we're still not at Narith," he said pointedly. "I'm going to land."

As Vaan began to set the ship down, Penelo sighed. "I thought it was taking a little long to get there," she said.

"Why didn't you _say _so, then?"

"Because I thought I was just _tired._ We've been flying most of the night so we could make the pick-up time for this stupid job. I don't have the sun to show me what direction we're going, and it's been _cloudy _most of the trip--" Penelo waved her hand at the cloudy night sky in emphasis "--so I've only had the stars every now and then. All I have is the navigation system on this thing! Maybe it's broken; did you think of that?"

Vaan gently set the airship down in a large field. "That's ridiculous. I just had her tuned up!"

"It doesn't mean things can't break. Look at what happened to the last engine we had! Or the rifter belt! Or--"

"Okay, okay, I get it," Vaan grumbled.

Penelo was busy tapping at the coordinates screen as Vaan unfastened his harness and clambered out of his seat. He leaned over her shoulder just in time to see the screen blink, and then numbers on the screen suddenly change. "Uh-oh," Penelo mumbled. She tapped the screen again, and the numbers flashed to a new set. "Yes," she said definitively. "I'd say the navigation system is broken. So what do you know about repairing the nav system?"

Nothing. Vaan barely knew how to operate the navigation system, let alone repair it. Most of the things he had learned how to repair had come through the experience of actually fixing them. And they didn't have many spare parts on board--who knew if they had what they needed to fix _this?_

He opened his mouth to reply, but Penelo beat him to it. "That's exactly what I thought."

"I didn't say anything."

"You didn't _have _to." Penelo stood from her seat, looking rather irritable, and walked past him toward the airship door. She punched the button to lower the ramp.

Vaan followed her, watching the ramp go down. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It _means _that we're out in the middle of _nowhere _and neither of us has actually slept all night and now--oh, _no._ Vaan! I think you landed in a farmer's field!"

"What are you--" Vaan stopped when his eyes adjusted to the darkness outside the ship and he got a good look at the field of grain crops. Definitely a farmer's, and probably a farmer who lived very close, if the house he now noticed in the distance was any indication. He couldn't make out the architecture of the house, or the barn and other few small buildings around it, but he recognized the crops. This particular grain only grew in one place that he knew, because he occasionally delivered it to Dalmasca and Archades. "Penelo, we're in _Rozarria! _We went the complete opposite direction of where we were supposed to go!"

"Thanks for pointing that out, Vaan," Penelo said with more annoyance than before. "I'd never have figured it out."

"Well, this is just great." Vaan leapt off the ramp and into the grain field. "We're not going to be able to do this job now, and that means _no _gil for all this trouble."

"It's not my fault." Penelo stepped more carefully down the ramp and came to stand beside Vaan.

"Well, it's not mine, either!"

"Excuse me." The Rozarrian accent drew their attention to the man approaching quietly through the grain. Despite the near-dawn hour, he looked wide awake. "Would you mind telling me what an airship is doing in my field? It's not everyday we see an airship at all, let alone look out the window to see one parked right outside!" His voice held more amusement than anything, and Vaan was sure he saw a smile twitching at the man's lips.

"We're so sorry!" Penelo said instantly. "It was dark, and we didn't see much of where we were landing."

"We got kind of lost," Vaan added. "Our navigation system's broken. We were _supposed _to be in Archadia." In the back of his mind--okay, and maybe in the front--he knew this was nobody's fault. Airships broke. He'd had his airship utterly destroyed before, so this was certainly better, but it was almost sunrise, and Vaan was hungry, and he wasn't going to be able to do the job. Most of all, he was worrying about Penelo and _her _lack of sleep and food, even though he knew if he even hinted to her that he was worrying, she would potentially jump down his throat.

He rubbed his forehead tiredly. He'd had it all planned out. Get to Archades, pick up the goods at the designated time, and then check into an inn for a while so Penelo could get some rest before they took their cargo to its next destination. Now they were somewhere in Rozarria, and though they had a bed on their ship, all they currently had in the way of food were nutrient bars.

Vaan looked sideways at Penelo. She was pressing a hand to her back and drooping with exhaustion. Sighing, he faced the farmer. "We'll pay you for the damage we caused to your crops."

The farmer looked between them both, his grin widening. "Mm, we can discuss that. Right now, how about you come to my house? My wife is making breakfast and it is not everyday we get the opportunity to talk to Dalmascan foreigners. Particularly young Dalmascan foreigners who argue like an old married couple." He winked at them.

Vaan and Penelo exchanged glances, and Penelo's face finally relaxed into a smile. Vaan returned it with a smile of his own, and Penelo turned back to the farmer. "Well, we've only been married a year, but we do have a lot of practice in arguing," she said with tired humor in her voice.

The farmer chuckled. "I see." He motioned at them to follow him. "I'm Sel."

"I'm, uh, really sorry about this," Vaan said.

Sel waved dismissively as he led them through the grain field toward the house. "It will give me a story to tell the other townsfolk. It's the most interesting thing that's happened all year."

"What other townsfolk?" Penelo asked. "Where are we?"

Sel laughed. "In the middle of nowhere. I don't think our town is even on the maps. We are actually more a community of farmers than a town." He pushed open the door to his house and led them inside. "Elry, we have guests for breakfast!"

The house smelled fantastic. The scent of food permeated the air and made Vaan's mouth water and his stomach rumble loudly. The delicious smell grew stronger as Sel led them into the kitchen, where a woman with dark curls was cooking several pans of food.

Her eyes lit up when she saw them. "Welcome! I take it you are the owners of the ship in our backyard?" Her voice was as dry and amused as her husband's. Then she got a closer look at Penelo and her eyes widened slightly when they landed on the small bulge of Penelo's stomach. "Oh, look at you! Poor dear, you're dead on your feet--you look exhausted. Come, sit down!" She took Penelo by her shoulders and gently led her to the table.

Vaan found himself being tugged by Elry's hands a moment later, until he was sitting beside Penelo with a steaming plate of food in front of him. By the time the sun had risen, they were joined by Sel and Elry's three children. The eldest of the three was a girl who looked to be only a few years younger than Vaan and Penelo, and she shot Vaan a sort of look that he pointedly ignored. He had absolutely no interest in her or in returning her appraisal. He had Penelo, and that was all he ever wanted. And he also had no desire to deal with a jealous, hormonal Penelo. Hormonal and exhausted was bad enough.

"Have to get up early on the farm to take care of everything, yes?" Sel asked, scooping a generous second helping of food onto Penelo's plate. "It is a simple life we live here. Not like yours, if today is any indication of your lives."

Penelo leaned back with a sigh, absently rubbing her stomach. "Our lives have always been pretty crazy," she said with a small smile at Vaan. She stifled a yawn with her hand.

Elry straightened. "You need a good rest," she told Penelo firmly. "I'm sure you both do."

Sel nodded his agreement. "You should both get some sleep. Then, I think, we can deal with damage to the field." He didn't sound at all accusing, and in fact sounded as cheerful as ever. "I think an afternoon of helping out on the farm should do for repayment quite nicely. Would you agree?" he asked Vaan. "It would also be time to get my friend Filder, two houses over. He knows more about airships than anyone in the area. He used to fix them for the military. If anyone can help you fix your ship, it's Filder."

It was _more _than fair, and Vaan quickly agreed. It wasn't as if they could go anywhere until the nav system was fixed, anyway.

After breakfast, Vaan and Penelo returned to their airship to get some sleep in their bed. Under the blankets, Penelo snuggled up against Vaan's side, the hard curve of her stomach pressed against his hip. "You know," she murmured, her eyes already half-closed, "out of all the things we've been through, you'd think I wouldn't find random things that happen to us strange anymore. But this--well, it's not at all what I expected."

Vaan curled his arm around Penelo and kissed her gently on the mouth. "If we ever decide to leave Rabanastre, I vote we move here."

Penelo laughed. "They _are_ nice people." Her eyes were all the way closed now, and she mumbled, "Sorry we missed the job."

Vaan shrugged a little. "There'll be others." He watched as she drifted completely off to sleep before brushing her hair away from her eyes. It was always good to be reminded of the things in life that really mattered. If there was one thing that Vaan had learned throughout his life, it was that no matter what direction he went, it would be okay as long as Penelo was with him.

He kissed her lips one more time, patted her stomach, and closed his eyes with a contented smile on his face.


	48. Empty

**A/N: Thank you again to my reviewers: Dracorum, Kisdota, Althia, chiharu-tanaka, Feeny, koalababay, larnelo girl, omegarulesall, QbertEnhanced, DJ, and Puggles Master.**

**I wanted to do one more prompt with the orphan kids before I finish off this table, so...well, here's that.**

**

* * *

**

_**Prompt #48 - Empty**_

"Can I hold him?"

"I want to hold him, too!"

"Eee! He's _so cute!_"

"I think he looks kind of squishy."

"Shut up, Bucco; he's not squishy!"

"Is so, Fidget! Look at him!"

Penelo shifted her newborn son in her arms and beamed around at the kids crammed into their apartment. No sooner had Vaan and Penelo brought baby Reks home than they had been swarmed with all of their orphan children. Nine kids were now crowded around Penelo, who was holding Reks on the couch. Vaan was grinning like the proud father he was, his arm slung around Riby and Filo as they all peered down at Reks.

He _was _mesmerizing. Penelo had barely taken her eyes off of her baby in the two days since he'd been born. It had been such a short time, and already she couldn't imagine life without him. It was ironic, really, how things could have felt so complete and fulfilling when it had just been her and Vaan, but now that he was here, her life would have felt so empty without him.

Penelo finally pulled her gaze away from Reks, her eyes drifting over each of the kids surrounding her. They were growing up so fast. Filo, the eldest, was fourteen already, while Myro, the youngest, was eleven. It seemed like just the other day they had all been so _small. _It only went to show how fast childhood passed. One day she would be looking at Reks and wondering where _his _childhood had gone.

She carefully lifted Reks toward the nearest child. Kytes's eyes widened and he carefully grasped the baby in his arms. "He's so tiny!" he whispered. "What if I break him?"

Penelo laughed softly. "You won't break him, Kytes."

Still, it was with great care that Kytes gently held Reks before slowly passing him to Filo. Myro slipped onto the couch beside Penelo and leaned her head on her shoulder. Penelo smiled and smoothed Myro's hair, but Myro's gaze was fixed on Reks as all the kids took turns holding him. Her eyes were large and she sat very still against Penelo, until at last, Johm was kneeling in front of Myro and placing Reks in her lap.

"He ain't so bad, for a baby," Johm muttered as Myro's arms folded around Reks.

"Well, thank you, Johm," Penelo said dryly.

"What do you mean, he's not bad?" Vaan protested. "He's my kid; you should be saying how amazing and wonderful and--"

"Beautiful."

Everyone fell silent at Myro's quiet word. Though it had been several years since she had overcome her trauma-induced inability to speak, she remained the quietest of all of the kids. Whenever she spoke, they all got quiet to listen to her.

Myro looked up, and there were tears sparkling in her eyes. "He's beautiful," she repeated.

The kids' silence was broken when Bucco snorted. "Boys aren't beautiful, Myro. You're gonna scar him for life."

Johm punched Bucco's leg from where he was still kneeling in front of Myro. "Shut up. She ain't gonna scar him."

The other children were all chattering again, but Myro just leaned down to kiss Reks's face, a smile on her lips.

Penelo met Vaan's eyes over the kids' heads. He grinned at her and said, "Just wait until they start arguing about who's going to babysit."

"Me!" Filo exclaimed instantly.

"Uh-uh, I wanna babysit!" Fidget said.

"The _girls _can do it." Riby grimaced. "I don't wanna be changing a dirty baby."

Fussbudget made a face. "Me neither! Gross!"

Penelo's gaze went back down to Myro. She was snuggling Reks close to her, and when she saw Penelo looking at her, she whispered, "May I hold him for just another minute?"

"Of course," Penelo whispered back. She leaned back and rested her head against the couch, closing her eyes. As wonderful as having Reks was, she was completely exhausted and felt like she could have slept for a day. Or three.

A smile spread across her face as she listened to the chatter around her. Yes, her life was definitely far from empty, and she expected that it would get fuller and fuller with each passing day.

_And I'll probably get more and more sleep-deprived, at least for a while,_ she thought as she stifled a yawn. _But it's all so worth it._


	49. Creep

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed: Kisdota, Puggles Master, omegarulesall, Automailjunkie, DJ, Dracorum, koalababay, Feeny, chiharu-tanaka, IH8Abbreviations, and QbertEnhanced. **

**Well, I'm posting the last two prompts at the same time, since I've had the last one written for a while, and since the last prompt is also extremely short.**

**

* * *

**

_**Prompt #47 - Creep**_

Penelo swiftly discovered that she loathed Giruvegan even more than she had loathed Raithwall's Tomb and the Stilshrine of Miriam put together. Those had both been disturbing, full of traps and zombies and awful sounds and smells. Giruvegan was long and exhausting. There were so many strong fiends that it took the party almost a full day to cross through the first part and reach the nearest crystal for rejuvenation. Penelo was drained by the time they finally got there--they all were. They hadn't slept in over twenty hours. It was amazing, not to mention irritating, how it could have taken so long to get such a short distance. All she wanted to do was _sleep_.

They camped out in the room with the crystal, and when they were all rested, they continued onward. After another huge, exhausting battle, they arrived in the Great Crystal. The Great Crystal soon made the first part of Giruvegan look like a jaunt through the desert in comparison. It was horrible. It was nothing more than a giant maze of pathways, Way Stones to teleport them from one place to another, and strong, magick-casting creatures that would creep up on them out of nowhere. It was equally long and arduous, and they had trouble just finding the next crystal so they could rest. Their supplies of x-potions and phoenix down were running low, and Penelo had only one ether left.

"We must find a crystal soon." Ashe was trying not to show her exhaustion, but she was covered from head to toe in grime, slime, and she was wavering on her feet. "Or we must rest."

"Rest sounds like a great idea," Vaan said, shaking a chunk of something off his foot. Penelo tried not to look at it too closely.

They were all battered, bruised, and filthy, even Balthier, Penelo was mildly gratified to see. She had begun to wonder if he was just dirt-proof, but Giruvegan had left its mark on him, too.

Penelo knew she probably looked the worst. Her braids were smoking and frizzy from the Thunder spells she had been hit with moments earlier and she smelled strongly of sulfur. She was out of magick from all the fresh healing spells she had just been casting, and didn't even think she had the energy to move around and build her magick back up again.

"May I suggest we rest here?" Balthier asked, shaking out his sleeves and sending a glob of slime flying. It hit the side of Ashe's face, and she wiped it off with a tired sigh. "We could take it in turns to keep--"

"Watch out!" Penelo threw herself forward and smacked into Ashe just as the Necrophobe that had appeared out of nowhere attacked.

The next thing she knew, she was waking up because she was swallowing something. Or trying to swallow; she was gagging on the thick liquid in her throat. It took a long moment--far too long--for awareness to seep back into her. Her body screamed to just fall back into whatever state of unconsciousness that she had been in. She came around enough to realize that she was on the ground, propped up only by an arm around her back.

Coughing and choking, she struggled to move, but the arm held her in place. Vaan's arm, she realized, when she heard his voice, frantic and tense. "Don't spit it _out, _Penelo, swallow it!"

What did he think she was _trying _to do? But her mouth was full of the taste of ether and potion, a very unpleasant mixture, and she couldn't speak until she had swallowed, especially since Vaan still had the bottle of ether crammed into her mouth and was dumping more in.

Penelo's energy rose a little bit, but she still felt like death warmed over. She finally managed to pry her eyes open. When she did, it was to find Ashe crouched in front of her, face full of concern. Balthier, Basch, and Fran were standing guard in a circle around them.

Relief filled Ashe's eyes when Penelo's gaze met hers. She silently held out an x-potion to Vaan, who took the now-empty ether bottle out of Penelo's mouth and traded it with Ashe for the x-potion.

"I'm okay," Penelo mumbled. "Need to save it."

Not heeding her at all, Vaan popped the stopper off of the x-potion bottle and shoved it into her mouth. Penelo tried to push it away, but Vaan glared at her, his look telling her she had _better _swallow it. Ashe said firmly, "Drink it, Penelo. That Necrophobe struck you with Death."

Well, that explained why she was she was feeling so drained. _Stupid fiends. Stupid Giruvegan. Stupid Great Crystal. _What she wouldn't give for a few days to curl up and sleep. And a bath. A bath would be fantastic.

Her eyes were drifting shut again, even as she was drinking the x-potion.

"Penelo, you must stay awake for a while." Ashe's clear voice brought her eyes snapping open again. "I know you are tired, but you must be certain the effects of the spell are gone or--"

"Or I might not wake up again." Penelo shivered and nodded. Or tried to nod. Her head kind of lilted against Vaan when she moved.

"C'mon." Vaan set down the empty potion bottle and dragged her to her feet. He got her walking within the small circle formed by the others keeping watch, hoisting her up when she stumbled. The walking would serve to keep her awake, and also to continue replenishing her magick.

Even in her dazed, leaden state, Penelo could see one thing very clearly on Vaan's face. "You're upset."

Vaan's hold on her tightened. "Really? How'd you figure that one out?"

Penelo pulled on his arm, even though that almost made her lose her balance and fall on her face. "I'm okay, Vaan."

"Yeah. This is _really _what I call okay." Vaan tugged on her when she stumbled, keeping her feet moving. He was quiet, and his face was pinched when he looked down at her. "You push yourself too hard sometimes, Penelo."

"What--"

"Like yesterday," Vaan continued. "Or the day before. I don't know how long it's been. Whenever we first got to Giruvegan. You kept stepping in and fighting even when you were drained of magick and almost unconscious."

"What was I supposed to _do_? Just stand back while you and everyone else fought?" Penelo demanded. Her voice was low and not at all forceful. She would have liked to say she was being quiet so the others wouldn't hear, but the truth was, her voice was just as weak as her body.

"You think I don't know why you were doing it? Every time you got hit or hit one of the monsters, you got a little of your magick back, and then you would heal _us. _Sometimes you need to just _stop _for a minute and let someone heal _you._ Or heal yourself first! You spend so much time keeping us safe that you completely drain yourself and then you still jump in front of Death-casting monsters and--and--"

Penelo grabbed Vaan's shoulder, trying to get in front of him and stop him, but all she managed to do was fall over her own feet. Vaan caught her and she grabbed onto his vest for support. _Stupid Necrophobe. Stupid Death spell. _"Vaan," she began. It was really strange to be having this discussion when she was clinging to him and couldn't even glare at him properly. "I heal the people who need it most. I will stop and heal myself if I have to, but I _will not _watch you or someone else fall if I can stop that. You would have pushed Ashe out of the way if you had seen the Necrophobe. You can't tell me you wouldn't have. You push yourself even harder than I do sometimes!"

Vaan sighed. Finally, he nodded. "I know."

She understood. She knew that they trusted each other completely. She knew that Vaan didn't question her being there. He knew she could fight and cast magick and he wasn't questioning her competence anymore than she questioned his.

She just knew that sometimes when something like this happened, when one of them came so close to brushing death, the panic and fear that crept up afterward was terrifying and heart-wrenching. She should have been panicked and shaken at her own close call, but she suspected that would come when she could actually stand without needing someone to hold her up. Right now, Vaan was giving her exactly what she needed. He was keeping her talking, keeping her stable. She was giving him what he needed, too, giving him reassurance in the familiarity of _them_, of this, of their support for each other.

He was just scared for her, and he had every right to be. She would have been equally as terrified if it had been him instead.

Vaan turned her and nudged her forward, getting her moving again, his arm still wrapped firmly around her waist.

Because they both also knew that sometimes all they could do was hold the other person up and keep walking forward, no matter what life threw at them.


	50. Imagine

**A/N: I believe that this is the shortest prompt I've ever written, but it was exactly what I had in mind, so…well, here is my very last Vaan/Penelo prompt for this table. Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who joined me on this venture--I had a blast with this. I hope you all had fun reading, too. **

* * *

_**Prompt #10 - Imagine**_

They were sitting on top of their airship, parked on the edge of a cliff that looked down into a canyon. Vaan wasn't entirely sure where they were, but that didn't seem important. Penelo had asked him to stop as soon as she had spotted it. "The sun is setting, Vaan, let's watch it set over the canyon!"

Vaan had long learned that when Penelo had one of her whims, it was best just to go along with it. He had to admit, too, that it _was _an amazing sight. The setting sun lit the red-brown walls canyon with an explosion of brilliant oranges and reds.

It certainly didn't hurt that Penelo was sitting between his legs, leaning back against him as they watched the sun slide beneath the horizon. She sighed and leaned her head back on his chest. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"This is one of the things that makes traveling around worth it," Penelo said. "Getting to see sights like this." She tilted her head up and looked at him. "What do you think our lives would have been like if we'd never left Rabanastre?"

Vaan had barely begun to open his mouth to answer when she continued. "I mean, think about it. So many things that happened to us--good and bad--got us to where we are now," she said thoughtfully. "So many things _could _have happened to us. There are so many amazing things that happened to keep us together. To keep us alive." Her forehead creased and a slight frown crossed her face. It looked upside-down from Vaan's angle as she continued to gaze up at him. "What if it had been different? What if you had never escaped from Nalbina? What if I had never made it out of the Lhusu Mines when I was kidnapped? What if we had--"

Vaan covered her mouth with his fingers. "Don't."

Penelo's frown deepened--he could see it in her eyes and feel it under his hand. She pried his fingers away from her mouth and turned around so she was facing him directly. "What's wrong?"

Vaan looked at her seriously for a long moment, and then leaned forward and kissed her gently. His answer was simple, but he knew it said everything he needed it to. "I don't want to imagine me without you."


End file.
